All That They Know
by BellaBloodrayne
Summary: Rylie is the daughter of a survivalist nut, and thank God for that. She's left fighting to survive on her own after the outbreak, until one day she stumbles upon Daryl and his group in the woods. She's drawn to his rough and distant exterioir, and he tries to deny he's drawn to her fighting and hopeful attitude. Set during the search for Sophia and on. Daryl/OC
1. Nice Choice

**Alright everyone, this is my first attempt at a Walking Dead fanfiction. Please let me know what you think, it would help and encourage me so much! Might take me a while to get the next chapter up, but reviews would help that process along. This one is a tad long, so hope you all enjoy!**

**I do not own any of the caracters, other than Rylie.**

"Son of a bitch!" Rylie cursed, kicking the dead walker in the side. She turned her attention back to the rabbit that she had caught in a snare that was now spoiled. "So much for dinner," she muttered shaking her head. It had been over a day since she last ate, not like that was unheard of these days. Her stomach growled as if to reminder her it was still there, but she tried to ignore it. _Come on girl, either you try to find something else to eat before sunset, or you suck it up and keep walking. _Pissed off that yet again her day had been ruined by these ass holes, she turned and yanked her knife out of the walker's head.

Sighing, she made her way back to her small excuse for a camp, keeping an eye out for any movement from any creature – walker, animal, or human. She scoffed at that thought. It had been weeks since she had come across another human, she was starting to think she might be the only one left. _Optimism, Ry. You know your dad, he's gotta be alive and kicking still. Ain't no apocalypse gonna kill him. You'll find him… some day._ "Keep tellin' yourself that, kid."

She reached her 'camp' and started to pack up. Everything she owned at this point could fit in or on a backpack her father had given her a few years back. She smiled at the thought, strapping her holster to her hip. Her father, apocalypse prepper extraordinaire! Always making sure she could take care of herself, knew how to survive if it ever came down to it.

'I won't always be there to protect you, baby girl. You're going to have to be prepared,' he used to say to her.

She slung the pack over her shoulders and double checked to make sure she had everything. Her Glock 23 was strapped to her hip on the right – with what very little ammo she had left in her pack - and a generous sized machete she had picked off a dead walker on the left side of her hip, the rope she used to secure herself up in trees to sleep when she could was attached to the side of her bag, both of her switchblades in her pack (you can never have too many sharp objects!), along with a few spare changes of clothes, a couple bottles of water, and a small survival kit. Her compact sleeping bag, which she didn't like to use if she didn't have to, was hooked to the top of her pack. It was all actually relatively light; else she wasn't sure she would be able cart it around everywhere. But everything she needed to get by in this world she could rest on her back and still move with ease. Something she was grateful for.

Looking up at the sky, she saw the sun was close to setting through the canopy of trees above her. Adjusting her bag, she began walking, thinking she would need to set up a few snares in a couple of hours if she planned on eating anytime soon.

She walked for what seemed like forever –at least an hour-, quietly humming to herself. Everything was quiet and calm in the woods until suddenly, a scream ripped through the air, making her freeze and look around frantically. She heard another scream, not as loud this time, and sprinted towards the sound, drawing her machete out of its holder. _The hell are you doin', Ry? Run away from trouble, not towards it! _But she knew if someone was hurt or in trouble, she couldn't just walk away. She had to at least try to help!

As she ran, she heard shouting and could tell now that there were multiple people, not just one like she had initially thought. She saw movement through the trees and as she reached the group, she saw a chick on a horse ride up out of nowhere and smash the walker that had the screaming woman pinned in the head with a bat, knocking it off of her. Stunned at what was happening in front of her, she stared and tried to figure out what was happening.

_Look how many of them there are, _she thought in awe as the group ran was the woman on the ground, scrambling to get up, two more women looking panicked, an Asian kid with a baseball cap, the girl on the horse, and a gruff looking man with a crossbow, ready to use it if need be. _Nice choice_, Rylie thought appreciatively.

"Loir?" the girl on the horse asked, looking down at the blonde. "Lori Grimes?"

The skinny brunette of the group stepped forward. "I'm Lori."

The country girl put her bat in a pouch on the side of the horse and looked at Lori desperately. "Rick sent me, you gotta come now."

_There are even more of them?! What the heck is going on? _Rylie felt like she hadn't been noticed yet and wondered if she should try to slip away. Looking around quickly, she saw that the rough looking guy was staring at her, then looking back at the girl on the horse, confused. _Too late._

"What?" Lori asked wide eyed.

"There was an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you **gotta** come now!" the girl urged. When no one moved, country girl became more urgent. "Rick needs you! Come on!"

Lori, as if snapped into motion, took her bag off and went to get on the horse.

Redneck didn't like that one bit. "Woah! We don't know this girl! Or that one!" he shouted gesturing at Rylie, who in turn glared at him. "You can't get on that horse!"

"Rick said you had others? Stuck on the highway in that traffic snarl?" The Asian nodded at country girl, looking as confused as everyone else, as well as maybe a little wonderstruck. "Backtrack to Fairbourne Road. Two miles down is our farm, you'll see the mailbox. Name's Greene." And with that, Lori and country girl took off into the woods.

Rylie and everyone else stared after them for a moment, not really sure what to make of what just happened. Suddenly, the walker that had the blonde woman pinned, moaned and sat up, snapping everyone out of it. Redneck, seeming to take charge, glared at the walker. "Shut up," he said before shooting it in the head.

He then turned his attention to Rylie. Storming over to her, he aimed his bow at her and saw anger flash across her face. "An' who the hell are you?" he spat, not taking her out of his sights.

She held her hands up in a surrendering gesture, the machete still in her grasp, but continued to glare at the rough man in front of her. _The quite attractive rough man, _she couldn't help but notice.

"You mind pointing that thing somewhere else, boy-o?" she asked, purposefully ignoring his question.

"Daryl," the blonde said, putting a hand on his shoulder to relax him.

He sized this new girl up, trying to figure out how much of an immediate threat she might pose. He noticed her gun and the weapon she still had in her hand. She had some blood on her tight tank top and on her hands, but it looked old. She was lean and skinny, but he could tell she had some muscle underneath it all. She continued to glare at him, her grey eyes fierce as she sized him up as well. He wasn't fool enough to not notice that she was attractive, but besides that, he knew he could take her down if need be.

He lowered his crossbow and watched as her face relaxed some and she sheathed the blade at her side.

"Who are you? What are you doin' out here?" he growled at her.

She appreciated their caution and could see on all of their faces that they were wary of her. Not that she blamed them, she was a bit fidgety herself. They had her outnumbered, for God's sake, what did they think she was going to do? She didn't look that threatening, did she?

"Name's Rylie," she said, looking at them all. "I've been out here for weeks, trekking through these woods."

"Why?" the Asian boy asked her.

She looked at him quizzically. "Why are you all out here? I imagine for the same reason, right? Looking for help, for any sign of humanity or civilization, any kind of hope I could find. Didn't think sticking to the roads was a good idea, so I've been trying to stay hidden out here." It wasn't the **full **truth, but she hardly knew these people, she wasn't going to just spill her life story to them.

They all exchanged glances, except for Redneck, who was still staring at her. She couldn't read the harsh look on his face, but it was annoying her. "There ain't no hope, girl. Just survival now," he said to her.

Her gaze locked with his, her spirits dropping slightly. "Excuse me?"

The Asian boy stepped forward and spared a glance at Redneck. "Look, we should get back to the RV. It's gonna be dark soon. And we need to figure out what to do about this farm." He looked at her and smiled awkwardly, the first sign of friendliness she received. "We can talk it all there. I'm Glenn."

She smiled back at him, and shook his hand.

"We can't just take this girl back with us! We don't know nothin' 'bout her!" Daryl yelled, clearly.

The blonde looked at her. "Are you alone?"

I chuckled. "You bunch are the first people I've seen in weeks. To be honest, I was starting to think I was the only one left," she said sheepishly.

She seemed to think about it. "Daryl, let's just take her back with us. We'll figure out what to do from there. Glenn's right, we're running out of daylight and it's been a rough day. Let's see what Dale and T think."

"Whatever," he muttered still not thinking it was a good idea, and turned to walk away.

Rylie stared after him, confused at his hostility towards her. _What's up his ass?_

"Hey, I'm Andrea," the blonde introduced with a smile. "Hey," Ry said. She turned her attention to the other woman, who hadn't said a word and smiled at her, holding her hand out.

"Carol," the woman said, a small smile cracking her sad face and shaking Rylie's hand.

"Come on, better catch up to Daryl before he leaves us behind," Glenn suggested.

They all turned to follow, a comfortable silence falling on them as they trudged through the woods. _Well, this is gonna be interesting. What have you gotten yourself into, Ry? Guess you're gonna have to wait and see. Maybe this could work out for the best, who knows?_

**Please review and rate, y'all! It would mean so much!**


	2. No Nonsense

**So here is the second chapter! I know I said it might be a while before it gets posted, but you all just encouraged me so much! I didn't expect this kind of turn out, but I love it! **

**Thank you Paper Grenade, RachelNicole523, katie93319, kelizabeth13, lilacsandroses13, and TeamXtremexfan for following!**

**Sarabear91, you were the first one to review my story and I'm forever grateful! Meant a lot to me and I hope I don't disappoint. I thought this was a unique place to enter her, so we'll see what happens!**

**And finally LionHeartSid, thank you so much for your support! Totally made my day yesterday reading what you had to say. You're wonderful!**

**Enjoy, my dears!**

**I only own Rylie.**

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By the time they reached the highway the sun was about to set and Andrea had given Rylie a rough idea of who they were and what they were doing. She found out that they had been a larger group at one point, but shit had happened along their journey and they had lost people, just like she had. That was the reason they were out in the woods actually. Carol's 12 year old daughter had run off after a herd of walkers passed them and she hadn't come back. So they had all gone to go searching for her, had split up, and had been forced to come back empty handed due to the time. And that's where Rylie came in. Apparently their leader, Rick, was married to Lori and their son had been shot. That was all she found out.

Daryl was still charging ahead and reached the rest of their group first. She and Andrea had hung back while they quietly chatted. Rylie heard someone ask Daryl what happened.

"Carl was shot," Daryl answered.

"Shot? What do you mean, shot?"

As they approached the guardrail she saw and older man with a rifle looking at them with concern.

"I don't know, Dale," Glenn stated. "All we know is that this chick rode up out of nowhere and took Lori."

They all started to hop over the rail as Rylie decided to be the last, feeling out of place suddenly.

"And you let her?" he questioned Daryl in disbelief.

_Apparently they don't make a habit of becoming too social with other groups,_ Rylie thought to herself as she hopped the rail.

"Climb down outta my asshole man. Rick sent 'er." He turned back to quickly glace at Rylie before continuing. "She knew Lori's name. And Carl's."

Dale turned to look at the rest of the group, finally seeing Rylie. "And who are you?" he asked curiously.

She opened her mouth to answer, but Daryl cut her off. "Someone who ain't stayin' long," he spat before he turned to walk away.

She glared at him, having to bite the inside of her cheek before she stuck her tongue out at him childishly. Turning her attention back to Dale, she smiled and held her hand out. "Rylie. I happened to find these guys when Andrea here was being attacked by a walker. Thought I'd tag along for a bit."

"Don't get too comfortable," she heard Daryl mumble from his spot by a motorcycle. No one else seemed to hear him though, as Dale's attention drifted to Andrea, who was heading to the RV. Rylie quietly excused herself as there seemed to be some tension in the air between them as Dale tried to check up on her.

Making her way over to Daryl, she stopped right in front of his bike, arm crossed over her chest. She was a no nonsense type of girl, always had been. And she didn't plan on stopping now just because the world was ending and some redneck thought he could talk to her like that.

Daryl ignored her, not wanting to be bothered by this girl. He could feel her eyes burning into him and he finally looked up to her. "You got a problem, girl?" he snapped.

"That's funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing," she hissed, eyes narrowing.

"I ain't got time for this. Git outta my way," he demanded, trying to push past her.

Before she could stop herself, she reached out and grabbed his bare muscular arm to stop him. A jolt seemed to pass between them and she pulled her hand back quickly, pretending not to notice. His gaze fell on hers and she saw how deep and menacing his blue eyes were. Shaking herself back to reality, she spoke her mind. "Look, I don't know what your deal is, but whatever it is, it's not my fault. So feel free to stop bein' a dick anytime."

He scoffed at her. "Listen girl, you ain't our problem. We don't need you here and you're just gonna git in our way and slow us down. So the sooner you're gone, the better," he spat.

As he started to walk away from her and into the wreckage, she shouted after him. "Asshole!" She debated on 'keying' his bike with her machete, give him something to really hate her for, but thought better of it and stormed away back to the RV, subconsciously rubbing the hand that had touched Daryl.

Dale and Glenn were talking to another guy she hadn't noticed before and Carol and Andrea must have been in the RV. The black guy they were talking to was sitting on the ground leaning against the side of the vehicle and holding his bandaged arm with a pained expression on his face. Hearing her approach, they all looked at her.

"You must be Rylie," the injured one said. She smiled sympathetically and nodded. "I'm T-Dog. Nice to see a new face," he said, trying to smile against the pain.

"Ditto. I thought I might start goin' crazy if the only faces I kept seeing were all mangled and chewed up," she joked. She really wanted to ask what happened to him, but thought it might be rude. She figured if he had been bit, they wouldn't let him just sit here.

"So, Rylie, how did you wind up out here all by yourself?" Dale asked politely.

_Give and take, girl. They told you about them, so tell them some about you._ She removed her backpack and leaned it against the RV. "Well, I'm initially from Michigan, but I came on a road trip down here to visit some friends. We had gotten back from a bar one night when we saw the first news casts about the outbreak. It was all downhill from there." She paused, taking a deep breath. She hadn't really talked about it since, so she tried to keep details to a minimum, for her own sake. "Long story short, I lost all four of them some way or another. My goal is to eventually make it back home, see if anyone's still alive."

"You could stay with us for a while. We've got the room," Glenn suggested. "I mean, it just sounds like you've been by yourself for a long time and there is strength in numbers, right?"

A smile bloomed across her face at his suggestion. It lifted her spirits so much to know she wasn't the only one with some decency left in her, despite all the crap going on around them. But she thought back to Daryl's words – _She ain't stayin' long!_ "I'd love to, really. But I don't think I'm that welcome…"

"Oh, Daryl' warm up to you. You seem to know what you're doing if you've been out there by yourself for so long. We could use you, really," Dale said.

"At least come to the farm with us. From there you can make your decision," Andrea said. Rylie hadn't noticed that she had been standing in the doorway listening.

She wanted to, so bad did she want to. She hadn't realized just how lonely she was starting to become out there, living day to day with no one but herself and the dead. Here was the hope she had been clinging onto. A new start. She could see they were a good group, good people. Even Daryl, as much as he seemed to dislike her, she could tell he was a good man. Why else would he be out in the woods looking for a lost little girl? "Are you guys sure? I really don't want to be a burden…"

"Andrea's right. At least come to the farm with us. We can see what Rick and Shane have to say," Glenn said.

Rylie didn't have a clue as to who Shane was, but figured they must look to both him and Rick for guidance. She smiled and nodded, happy to have the company, even for this short amount of time.

"Speaking of the farm," Dale started, looking at his group, "we need to discuss what we're doing about that."

"I'll get Carol," Andrea said, stepping back into the RV.

"Anyone seen Daryl?" T-Dog asked.

Everyone shook their heads in response and Rylie sighed. "I did, he went that way." She pointed into the snarl in the direction the rugged man had gone.

"Uhm," Glenn said, looking around and not seeing him. "Someone should go get him. He needs to be a part of this."

Rylie could tell none of them wanted to go looking for him. At first she wondered if it was because they didn't like him or were afraid of him. But she remembered they way they looked to him as a step in leader out in the woods and realized that wasn't the case. They all just seemed a bit apprehensive, but with Daryl's attitude, she didn't really blame them. She sighed again, not knowing why she was about to do what she was. "I can go grab him, if you want. I think he was just going scavenging," she offered.

Glenn looked at her and smiled and that was all the acceptance as she needed. She turned and headed into the wreckage, looking for a man who couldn't stand the sight of her. _You'll just have to turn your charm on. If you're gonna be with them for a while, might as well make the best of it._ _And if he doesn't like it, you'll just have to try to irritate the hell of him then,_ she thought with a grin.

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**Please review! It means more than words can say to hear what you all think! Thank you! Hope you liked it!**


	3. Silver Lining

**Alright guys, so I really hope that the next few chapters aren't as slow as I feel that they are. A lot of these next two chapters are going to be informative, but I'm trying to give you guys something to hold on to! This chapter is pretty lengthy so bear with me; it'll get more interesting once they reach the farm! Hope you like!**

**Thank you to all of my wonderful followers and those who have favored, I'll try to keep updating as soon as I can and not disappoint you!**

**katie93319, sarabear91, and LionHeartSid – Your feedback means the world to me. Thank you!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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Even though they had already been through most of these cars, Daryl figured it didn't hurt to double check. He also figured it didn't hurt to get away from the hot and irritating new girl. _The hell does she think she is? Gettin' all high and mighty with me... Stupid bitch 's got another thing comin', _he thought rummaging through the trunk of an abandoned Grand Prix. His thoughts, however, started to drift to how tight her tank was and how her jeans hung low on her hips, revealing a small gap of pale skin. _Knock it off, Dixon!_ He shook his head, angry with himself.

He didn't find anything useful so he shut the trunk door, resisting the urge to slam it shut. He didn't know why he was so worked up over her. She was just a stupid girl. He knew he was just pissed that they hadn't found Sophia, and he realized he was taking it out on her. _Wouldn't've taken it out on her if she hadn't gotten in ma face._

"Havin' fun?" a sultry voice asked from behind him.

He looked over his shoulder to see Rylie leaning up against the hood of a car, hands in her pockets. He turned back around and heads for another car, not wanting to be near her. _Why she followin' me?_

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look, I just came to tell you that your people need you. They want to talk about what's happening with the farm and stuff," she said, watching as he turned to face her, a hand on his crossbow shoulder strap. _Good Lord, he looks good. Still an ass, but a good lookin' one._

He grunted at her in response and started to head back, but she stepped in his path. Their bodies were only inches apart and she realized he was a couple inches taller than her. She looked up at him, resolved to try to make this bearable. "Just so you know, I'll be sticking with you guys for a while. At least until we get to the farm." She saw him tense slightly. "So why don't we try to play nice, alright?"

He chuckled bitterly. She was making him… nervous and he didn't know why, but he sure as hell wasn't going to show her that. Maybe it was her steel grey eyes, the way they seemed to see right through him made him feel unnerved. Pissed that she had this affect on him, he decided to push back. Leaning closer to her face, he tried to gauge her reaction and was satisfied when those eyes widened slightly. "Whatever you say, girl," he growled in his southern drawl. He stepped around her and headed back to the convoy, leaving her slightly stunned.

_What the __**fuck**__ was that?_ She thought, pissed at her body's reaction to him - pissed at his reaction to her. She didn't like the way he had invaded her bubble like that, and liked it even less that it had made her heart race violently. _Get yourself under control, woman. _She shook her head trying to clear it, before she headed back to the group. Not wanting to be nosy or seem invasive, she decided to sit on the step in the doorway to the RV to give them some space – still within earshot, but not assuming she was a part of the discussion. She noticed that they were all discussing their options, other than T-Dog, who hadn't moved from his spot in the shade.

"Rick, Shane, Lori, and Carl are all at this farm, but how do we know we can trust 'em?" Daryl asked.

"If Carl's been shot and these people are taking care of him, I'd say that's enough to trust them," Glenn defended. _I really like this kid. Sees the silver lining in things._

"That must mean they have medical supplies, right?" Andrea asked. Everyone was quiet as they thought about what that could mean for them.

"I won't do it, I won't leave my little girl out there," Carol said softly. "We can't just leave."

Rylie's heart broke for this woman who had lost the most precious thing in her life. She could only imagine how hard this was for her. She wasn't stupid; she knew that if the girl had been alone out there for this long by herself, she was most likely turned – or would be soon enough. But Ry decided, then and there as she looked at Carol's grief stricken face, that she would help find Sophia in any way she could. The woman deserved closure – deserved to know what happened to her little girl, even if she had been bit.

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak," Dale informed her.

"What if she comes back? And we're not here?" They all looked at Carol, none of them speaking what they thought of that option. "It could happen," Carol finished.

Rylie watched as Daryl thought. She couldn't explain it, but she found herself enjoying watching him. _Way to be a creep, Ry,_ she scolded herself. He nodded, looking at everyone as an idea set in his mind. "Okay, I'd say tomorrow morning gives us enough time to pull up stakes. Gives us time to rig a big sign and leave her some supplies," he said thoughtfully. Rylie found herself smiling slightly at how serious he seemed to be taking this. _I knew he had a heart in there somewhere_. "I'll stay here tonight, with the RV."

"If the RV is staying, so am I," Dale announced.

Carol smiled. "Thank you. Both of you." Andrea smiled and told Carol she would stay too.

"Glenn, you should go. Take Carol's Cherokee and reconnect with our people, tell them what's going on," Dale started. He glanced over to T-Dog, who looked to be resting. "You need to get T-Dog to that farm and to the medicine. He has a very serious blood infection and it doesn't look good." Daryl turned at this and walked over to his bike.

Rylie could see that Glenn didn't like to be the odd man out and not stay and help here, but he realized how bad T-Dog was and nodded. Finally, they all turned their attention to Rylie.

"Rylie, would you mind staying with us? I think you would be received better if you showed up with the larger group, once things have hopefully calmed down a bit for everyone," Dale explained.

"Absolutely. Whatever you guys need or think is best, consider it done," she agreed, standing. Daryl walked back over with a large zip lock bag filled with prescription bottles.

"Why'd you guys say anythin' earlier? It's Merle's stash," he said. He started rummaging through the bag, listing off all types of drugs and had Rylie wondering just who this Merle character was. After tossing some pain killers to Glenn he found what he was looking for and tossed it to Dale. "Doxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither – that shit's first class," he said, with a hint of pride in his voice. He hesitated for a moment as everyone looked at his in disbelief. "Merle got the Clap on occasion."

Rylie realized she was grinning and watched as Daryl walked back to his bike. Everyone else started getting stuff ready, and though she wanted to bug Daryl about who he knew that had Clap, she figured she had all night for that. She watched as Carol returned to the RV and decided to follow.

"Knock, knock," she started, walking in slowly. Carol looked up from the bench she was sitting on and smiled politely at Rylie. Clearing her throat, she continued. "Hey, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry about your little girl. If you'd like, I would very much like to help in any way that I can in looking for her," she offered, smiling brightly.

Carol looked at her for a moment, and then cast her gaze down. "Why? You don't even know us."

Rylie's smile softened, knowing that Carol meant well. "I know that we're all survivors - together. And I know that there is a little girl out there just waiting to see her Mom again." Carol looked back up at her and a small smile spread over her features. "The more eyes looking, the better, right?" Nodding, Carol sighed.

"Thank you, it means a lot," the mother said.

"'Course. If you need anything, you just say the word, alright?" Carol nodded, thankful to have someone else searching for her daughter.

As she exited the RV, she saw Glenn and Dale helping T-Dog into the car. She made eye contact with him and gave him a smile and a small salute, making him smile and nod in turn. "You guys be careful, ok?" she said to Glenn.

He smiled, heading over to the driver's side. "You guys, too."

"Let them know we'll be there in the morning, alright?" Dale asked.

Rylie headed over to her pack and set it on the hood of an abandoned car to sort through her things as Glenn pulled out and away. They were losing daylight now, so she tried to make it quick.

"Nice gun," Andrea said stepping up next to her and nodding towards her piece.

Rylie smiled. "Thanks, it was a gift from my dad." She pulled out the light box of ammo and stared at it hopelessly. "Not that it'll be of any use soon. Nearly out."

"We've got some weapons too, but trying to save on ammo ourselves." Andrea sighed and looked over at Dale – who was now on top of the RV - with what looked like resentment. "I had my own gun, given to me by my dad, too. But we've kind of been put on lockdown. They don't want us using them while we're out looking for Sophia."

Rylie shrugged, clearly picking up on the annoyance from her new friend. "I mean, I understand that. Save on ammo, reduce the chance of drawing more walkers with the sound. But I can tell you I'd be about as pissed as you look right now if someone tried to take my baby away from me, so I understand that, too," she said, smiling.

Andrea looked at her and grinned. "Glad someone understands." She looked at the water bottles Rylie had taken out from her bag and noticed the brown murky water in them. "What the hell is that?"

She shrugged again. "Girl's gotta drink, right? Filled 'em up at the creek." She looked at the bottles with distaste. "It was the only source of water. Yeah it's a bit gritty at first, but it's not like I have the option of picking between Dasani or Aquafina," she finished laughing.

Andrea chuckled. "Well, I can give you another option, and its way better that that. Come on." She led Rylie around the back side of the RV and to a box truck that had been parked to one side of the road. When they reached the open side of it, Rylie chirped out a laugh of pure joy.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she looked at Andrea for permission and received a nod before she ran to one of the unopened jugs of beautiful clear water. She let the water run all down her face, chugging as much of it as she could. Rylie could feel her body responding to the hydration and she couldn't wipe the blissfully silly grin off her face. Stepping back, she ran her hands over her face and looked at Andrea, a sparkle in her eye. "I could kiss you. This is heaven," she sighed.

Andrea laughed. "It's pretty damn close. I'll leave you to it. Feel free to wash up, it's gonna be dark soon."

As Rylie watched Andrea walk away, she scrubbed off the dirt, grime, and blood from the past few days. And felt a sense of security for the first time since everything had happened.

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**Please review! It motivates and encourages me to put chapters up faster to know you guys want them! Let me know what you think! **


	4. Past Stories

**Here it is! It's short, but it's important! As always, thank you to those of you who support me and this story, as you're the ones that keep me going! **

**LionHeartSid, katie93319, Lilly72, and Tierney – THANK YOU! J**

**Hope you enjoy, darlings!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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Daryl saw Andrea heading away from the water truck and saw his opportunity to fill up his bottles. As he rounded the back of it, he stopped short when he saw Rylie shake out her chestnut hair from the bun she'd had it in. She had removed her top and stood only in her jeans and a black bra as she washed her hair out. Daryl, being quick on his feet, back away quickly and quietly, cursing himself. _You knew she'd been with Andrea, how could you forget about her? Especially with a body like that…_ he growled, shaking himself out of it, chalking that last thought up to the fact that it had been a very, very long time since he'd gotten any.

When Rylie was done washing off, she slipped her now clean blank tank back on, relishing in the coolness of it in the still humid Georgian air. A smile seemed to be permanently plastered on her face. _I've found friends, a sense of community, you're somewhat clean for the first time in forever, and even though the world still sucks and Sophia's still missing, I've got a good feeling in my stomach. Things are about to turn around for me._ It was dark now, so she went over to her stuff and secured it all.

Dale was still on lookout on top of the RV and everyone else she assumed were in the RV, trying to get some sleep for the night. Seeing as she felt too liberated to sleep yet, she looked up at Dale. "Mind some company?"

He looked down at her and smiled. "Come on up."

Running her hands through her hair and shaking it out some, she climbed the ladder and sat down next to him. They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the companionable silence.

"You seem awfully cheerful," Dale observed.

She looked up at him smiling. "Honestly, you guys probably just saved my life. I haven't felt this good in… well, in a while."

"You seem to have been doing pretty good on your own. I wouldn't say we saved you," he chuckled.

Rylie looked up at the clear sky. "No, not like that. From loneliness. You guys are the nicest group I've come across. You're truly good people."

His brows shot up at this. "There are other groups?"

_Watch your mouth, Rylie._ "Yeah. In the beginning, I came across 2 other groups, smaller ones. That was before I was alone. The two groups we stayed with for a while were hostile, mean. That's why we didn't stay with them. Let's just say, we moved on from both of them pretty quickly." She hoped that Dale would drop it, and thankfully he seemed to pick up on her hesitation and let the topic rest.

"So what did you do before all of this?" Dale asked her.

Rylie found herself more than willing to share with Dale. Something about him made him easy to talk to, and she knew he wasn't trying to pry or be nosy, but just be friendly. "I was actually going to school for psychology. I wanted to be a counselor for young people. I've always been able to read people really well and I figured, why not use that to help others? I went through a lot as a kid, so I thought that would help too." She looked up at Dale with a smile and met his gaze. "So much for that, huh?"

"Well, who says that that can't still be useful?"

Nodding at his statement, she chewed her lip for a second. "Hey Dale, can I ask you something?"

"'Course!"

She started twisting the ring she always wore around her index finger, a nervous tick of hers she just couldn't shake. "It's about something Daryl said earlier…"

"Rylie, Daryl's had a rough past. He comes across as harsh sometimes, but he means well. Really he does," Dale defended.

"No, I kind'a figured that. This was about something else," she said quietly. "Earlier he said there was no hope, and I don't think he was saying that just to be a Debbie Downer. Have any idea what he meant by that?"

Dale sighed and was silent for a while. She thought he might not answer her question, but then he spoke. "We were on our way to Fort Benning. We just left the CDC."

Her head snapped up at the mention of that. _The CDC? Were there people still there? Could they have been working on a cure for this thing?_ She had heard before everything went silent that there might be a cure, that the military was protecting certain areas where there were survivors. She had all but tossed that notion aside, figuring that if there was anything left there would have been some sign of it by now. But hearing Dale say that the CDC still stood ignited that fire in her again, however small it might be.

"There was only one doctor left working, and by the time we got there he had all but given up," he started.

"One?" she whispered, the fire now dying down to embers.

"His name was Jenner and he showed us what exactly this… _disease_ does to the brain. It kills the person, but restarts just enough of the brain stem to get a body moving. It brings back only the most basic and primal needs. The _person_ never comes back." He looked down at Rylie was a sad look in his eye. "He also told us he hadn't been able to find a cure. No one had. The only ones who had even come close were the French."

She scoffed. "It would be the French," she joked, trying to lighten her suddenly heavy mood.

Dale chuckled slightly before continuing. "The generators ran out and we barely got out in time before… well, before it self-destructed."

"Holy shit," she groaned, running her hands through her hair. It was like a bomb had been dropped on her. What else was there to hope for? The whole world has gone to shit and now she just found out the one place that would have given everyone even a fighting chance was blown to hell. _This is a lot to take in_, she thought.

"But hey, we're not giving up. There is this farm, maybe that'll be our safe haven," Dale said positively.

She looked up at him and studied his face. "Do you really believe that?"

"I have to," he said honestly.

Daryl chose that moment to walk out of the RV, crossbow slung across his chest. He looked up at Dale and hesitated when he saw Rylie sitting there too. "I'mma go for a walk, shine some light in the forest. If she's out there it'll give 'er somethin' to look at."

"Wait," she started, scrambling up from her sitting position. "I'll go with you."

"I don't need no babysitter, girl," he said defensively as she climbed down the latter.

"No, she's right. It's not safe to go out there alone," Dale insisted.

Rylie walked around to stand next to Daryl, a hand on the hilt of her machete. He stared at her a moment and she flipped on her killer smile. "We goin' or what?"

"Whatever," he grunted, turning to navigate through the cars.

_It's gonna be a long night, _they both thought.

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**Sorry this one was kind of short, but I figured it was a good place to stop it. Pretty pretty please review and let me know what you think! Tell me if you didn't like it, if you did like it, what you liked, or what you would like to see happen in future chapters! You opinion matters to me greatly! Thanks, loves!**


	5. Good Start

**Here we go! Finally some Daryl time! =) I hope you all enjoy! Pretty please review! **

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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They walked in tense silence for a while, Daryl purposefully taking the lead and always being a few steps ahead of her. It was odd for her to be on the lookout for someone other than just herself, yet comforting. Something about Daryl's presence made her feel safe and at ease. She could tell as she watched him that he was beyond competent and that he knew his way around the woods about as good as she did, if not better. She wondered briefly why he was with a group when he seemed like he could do so well on his own. She chewed her lip as she tried to think of how to ask him a little more about himself. Knowing he would never spill info first, she decided the best way was to go first.

"Everybody thought my dad was crazy," she said quietly, keeping an eye on their surroundings. "He was one of those doomsday prepper kind of guys. He was prepared for any kind of disaster, and I mean _any_. He was always telling me he didn't think zombies were a likely possibility, but it didn't hurt to be prepared. Turns out he was right." She chuckled to herself at the memory, realizing Daryl was closer to her now.

"The hell do I care?" he grumbled.

She shrugged. "I'm just sayin'. He taught me everything I know, and now it's all that I know. I owe my life to my dad and I can't even tell him that…" When Daryl didn't respond in anyway, she sighed. "So anyway… who's Merle?"

He snapped his head to look at her. "Why 's it any of your business?"

"I'm just trying to start conversation," she hissed.

"Well don't." He turned around quickly to keep walking, but she was quicker and stepped in front of him.

"Look, Daryl. I'm tryin' here. I know we just met 'n all and you don't think you can trust me. But how are you gonna know if you don't give me a shot?" she asked, trying to persuade him even just a little. She smiled at him. "You can ask me any question you want, however many you want and I'll give you the God's honest truth."

He didn't understand why this girl who had called him a dick and as asshole just a few hours earlier was trying to be nice to him now. _Well, you __**were**__ bein' a asshole. _"Ain't no questions gonna help that. You gotta prove it."

She nodded. "Alright, tell me how."

"Why do you care so much, girl?" he snapped angrily.

The question took her by surprise for some reason. She stared at him a moment, not having an answer. "Because I guess I like making friends, even at the end of the world, ok? And your just one of the lucky bastards that gets to be a victim of that. So how about we make a deal; I do my best to prove to you and the group that I'm trustworthy, and you stop being such an ass to me and _consider_ calling me your friend," she offered, happy with that idea.

He scoffed, but couldn't help but think about her challenge. He told himself he just wanted to see her fail, but there was a small part of him that knew he was drawn to this girl. "Fine," he barked.

She held her hand out to him, but he didn't notice that her other hand went to her machete grip. "Where I'm from, we shake on things," she told him.

As soon as he reluctantly grabbed her hand, there was motion. She moved quickly, yanking him back as she flung forward, embedding her blade into a walker's skull with a sick slicing sound. She grimaced as a spurt of blood landed on her cheek and neck and wretched her weapon out of the twitching dead corpse. Using the back of her hand she wiped at her cheek, succeeding in smearing the blood around.

She turned to face a somewhat surprised Daryl and flashed him a menacing grin. "That a start?"

He hadn't even heard the walker coming, which was extremely odd for him. He had been paying too close attention to what Rylie had been saying, and a part of him cursed her for distracting him. But she had just saved his life, without a second's hesitation. And he tried to deny that there was something strangely sexy about the way she looked to him right now – cocky, blood smeared, and standing like a warrior in the moonlight. Despite himself, he felt his lips turn up into a slight smirk, impressed.

"Yeah, that's a start."

It was the first time she had seen anything other than a scowl on his face when directed towards her. Pride swelled in her chest as they continued their little walk. "So since I just saved your sorry ass," she teased, "I think you owe me. Who is this Merle guy?"

_She has a point…,_ he thought, picking his way through the trees. "He's my older brother."

_So he hasn't always been alone. Oh no, I wonder if… _"Did he…?"

"Nah. He's too much of a tough ass to die." A snap of a twig had them both dropping closer to the ground, eyes darting in every direction looking for a threat. After a few seconds, she glanced at him and he jerked his head, signaling he thought they were fine. "You think I'm a asshole? You should'a seen Merle. He was the worst. On a run into Atlanta, he got outta control and Rick had to cuff 'im to the roof and leave 'im there." He looked over his shoulder to see her gape at him before he continued. "When we went back to git 'im, he was gone. Went and cut his damn hand off. When we went to head back to camp, our car was gone. The only one who could'a taken it was Merle, so the son of a bitch is still out there."

"Well… damn," she said after a minute. It was the most she had ever heard him talk at once, and she was surprised he had opened up enough to tell her about his crazy brother. Smiling to herself, she figured it was definitely a good start.

He felt awkward now; not knowing what else should be said, if anything. Thankfully, they came upon a small camp site that appeared to be abandoned, until they found a walker hanging in a tree with a pitiful note tacked to it. Rylie shook her head – dude didn't know it had to be the brain. She felt bad for him, that he had thought he was saving himself from this nightmare only to have it become his fate in the end. She noticed that the flesh had been stripped from his legs, leaving them a dangly bloody mess. The whole picture had her stomach turning and she had to look away from the starved wiggling body, a hand pressed to her mouth. "Shouldn't we do something?"

Daryl checked the tent to see if there was anything useful inside, being quick about his work. "Waste of an arrow," he told her matter of factly.

She knew he was right, that they couldn't afford to just throw ammo away like that. But it still broke her heart to see such a sad sight. She was a rational girl, but that didn't mean she always **liked** making rational decisions. Deciding it was best to just forget it she turned her attention to Daryl. "Find anything?"

"Nah, nothin' worth savin'," he answered.

They decided it was time to head back and walked in a mutual silence. They flowed well together in a setting like this, she realized. Two outsiders, doin' their thing, looking for a lost little girl. Rylie couldn't imagine what it must be like for young Sophia to be out in the dark alone like this… if she was still alive.

He was glad that she had decided to shut up. The silence suited him better. He was never much of a talker, and now that she was quiet he could focus on the matter at hand - finding Sophia.

As if reading his mind, she piped up. "Daryl…" the way his name sounded coming out of her mouth made his gut clench. "Do you really think we'll find Sophia?"

"The hell kind'a question is that?" he snapped. He thought this girl was supposed to be all chipper an' shit. "We just started lookin'."

She looked at him and frowned. "It's been almost two days…"

"So what? That don't mean nothin'," he spat. "This ain't the mountains of Tibet, its Georgia. Kid's get lost and then they git found. Happens all the time."

"She's only twelve."

"I was younger than her when I got lost," he told her, shinning the flashlight around. "Nine days in the woods, eatin' berries and wipin' my ass with poison oak. Merle was in juvi and my dad was off with some waitress. Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back, though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich."

She marveled at this man in front of her. This man that tried so hard to come across as a hard ass, who didn't need help from anybody, had been alone in the woods and afraid – though she knew he would never admit to that. He wasn't a bad man, he just had a past. "Were you okay?" she asked, not wanting the conversation to be over.

"No worse for wear, but my ass itched somethin' awful," he finished.

She snorted, unable to hold it back. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she tried desperately to stop the giggles. He looked back at her and glared. "I'm sorry," she said, trying to compose her grin. "Sorry, that's a horrible story." Looking up she met his eyes and one more chuckle escaped her lips. She could have sworn she saw him smile slightly before turning back around.

"The only difference is Sophia's got people lookin' for her."

As the continued through the forest, a smile now stuck on her face, her stomach rumbled loudly. "What I wouldn't give for some woodland berries right about now," she stated, a hand on her belly.

He looked at her quizzically. "When's the last time you ate, girl?"

She shrugged. "A day or two ago, I guess."

He shook his head. "Why didn't you say nothin'?" At her repetitive shrug, he sighed angrily. "We'll git you somethin' when we get back."

They soon reached the highway and Daryl went inside to grab her some food. He came back out with an apple and a granola bar that they had probably found inside one of the cars. "Here," he grunted tossing them to her.

"Thanks," she muttered, taken aback by his sudden show of… what was it, exactly? Now she felt an awkward tension starting to bloom, like at the end of a date when neither party knew how to end the night. _Give it up, Ry. It's the end of the world, not fucking high school. Just say goodnight and part ways._ "Well, I think I'm going to keep Dale some company for a while." He nodded, clearly feeling the awkward, too. She headed towards the back of the RV and stopped to smile at him. "Good night, Daryl."

As she started climbing, she heard a quiet, "Night, Rylie," and her stomach fluttered. It was the first time he had said her name, and for the first time she thought she understood what people meant when they said names held power.

She sat with Dale on top of the RV for awhile, wolfing down her food. But she soon fell into a deep sleep under the starry sky, a small smile on her lips.

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**More good stuff to come! Your opinion means the world to me, so let me know what you think! Thanks, loves!**


	6. Secret Thoughts

**Okay y'all, they're getting longer and longer! Hope you all enjoy!**

**Thank you so so so much to all of my lovely followers! LionHeartSid, sarabear91, and katie93319 - as always, thank you for your feedback! You guys are my rock! =) I would also like to hear from everyone else too, so please review! **

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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The next morning, everybody woke up early to help gather supplies together. Rylie felt more rested than she had in a very long time. Once they had set up a sign on the windshield of one the cars, they got ready to head to the farm. Rylie watched as Daryl went to his bike and for a fleeting moment, she wished she was riding with him. She'd always had a weakness for bikes… and men who rode them. Andrea called her name, bringing her back to reality and gestured towards the Tuscon. Carol and Dale were in the RV behind them as Daryl led the way down the highway.

It wasn't long before they were driving down a dirt road with a beautiful farm house in their sights. There was a group of people under some trees that started gathering at the front of the home. As they exited their vehicles, T-Dog walked out of the house, several more people behind him. Rylie couldn't believe how many there were.

Dale stepped forward and broke the silence first. "How is he?"

The brunet she remembered as Lori smiled. "He'll pull through." Rylie was glad to hear that the boy she had yet to meet was going to be okay. She made eye contact with the horse girl from the day before and smiled. The girl gave a sad smile back before looking away. "Thanks to Hershel and his people and -"

"And Shane," the man next to Lori interrupted. She assumed that the sheriff must be Rick. Everyone's attention turned to another man with a buzzed head who was wearing clothes that were clearly way too big on him. He looked around uncomfortably. The psychologist in her grew curious as she watched him. If he'd been with this group as a second in command, why did he look so nervous under the spotlight? "We would'a lost Carl if not for him."

It was quiet for a moment, but then everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and started hugging. Rylie noticed Daryl hung back and made no motion to move towards anyone and she gravitated towards his side. If she was going to be an outsider, she might as well do it with someone else. He glanced at her before turning his attention back to everyone else. Dale asked how it happened and Rick explained that it was just a hunting accident. Otis – one of Hershel's group – had made the mistake and then went off with Shane to get medical supplies to make amends. The only problem was, Otis never came back.

Introductions were made rather quickly, as they had a funeral to attend. When the attention was on Rylie, she smiled slightly and waved. Rick caught her eye and returned her small smile, giving her a nod. _I'll take that as I'm accepted._

They all slowly made their way over to help collect stones and pile them as a memorial for Otis. She gathered from overhearing small talk between Beth and Maggie that Otis was a good man, who wouldn't hurt a fly if he didn't have to. Rylie could tell that this man was going to be missed, and she was sorry she had never had the opportunity to meet him.

When everything was ready, everyone gathered on the other side of the farm where they had stacked the stones. Hershel started the funeral by reading a few words from the Good Book. Rylie couldn't help but feel that this was a bittersweet moment in her life – she had finally found a good group of people, but more people also meant more death. She looked around at the group gathered under the trees and noticed the clear division between Rick's group and Hershel's. She stood in between Dale and Glenn and listened to the sound of Patricia – Otis's wife – crying, and all of the kind words Hershel had to say about the man.

Finally, Hershel turned to Shane and asked him to say a few words. He declined, claiming he wasn't very good at it.

"Please," Patricia begged. "You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. I need to know his death had meaning. Please."

Everyone's eyes were on Shane, waiting. Finally, he spoke. Rylie listened as he explained what happened to them; how they were down on ammo and Shane was hurt. For a moment, she wouldn't have questioned him. But then she studied his face as he spoke. _He's lying…_ she realized, tilting her head to the side in confusion. She couldn't pin exactly why he would be lying, or what about the story he was lying about. But something wasn't right. He was overcompensating, a tell tale sign of a lie.

Biting her tongue, she figured she would talk to someone about this later. It wasn't the time or place at the moment. She watched as he walked over to the wheel barrel and placed a stone on the pile. She caught Daryl's eye and saw his brows were knit together in confusion as well. Maybe he didn't quite believe the story either.

Rylie's group all backed away giving Hershel and his family some respective distance as they said their goodbyes.

"Why don't we all take 20 minutes before regrouping and try to get Sophia's search organized," Rick started. "Hershel has agreed to help us in looking for her. So let's get set up first, give them some time."

Everyone nodded before heading back towards the house. As they walked across the fields to get the cars, she couldn't help but check Daryl out, who was a few paces a head of her. She admired the way his muscles flexed as he swung his crossbow over his shoulder, and imagined those strong arms holding her down and… _Woah woah woah! You just met the guy, chill out!_

"You checkin' Dixon out?" a voice inquired next to her.

She flinched, surprised to see Glenn walking next to her with a smirk on his face. "What? No! Of course not," she lied, looking away.

Glenn chuckled. "Liar. I know what I saw."

She glared at him. "You didn't see nothin'."

He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender but didn't completely succeed in wiping the grin off his face. "Sure, sure." She smiled slightly, shaking her head.

The cars were pulled around to a path of trees a little off the house. As everyone started to grab their things and make camp, she realized she didn't as much as them – like a tent. She had been used to just roughing it, but felt like that would be out of place here. Walking around to where Glenn was setting up, she approached him nervously.

"Hey, uhm, I really don't mean to mooch off of you guys or anything…"

He looked at her quizzically. "What's up?"

"I don't have a tent and I guess I was just wonderin' if you guys had any spares?" she asked quietly. She didn't like to ask for things on principle, especially when the group had already done so much just by taking her in.

He smiled. "I think we might have one or two spares. Head on over to the RV and ask Dale."

She smiled back. "Thanks!"

She didn't see Dale on top of the RV, but the door was wide open. She stepped in and saw Lori was there, gathering some things to take to Carl. "Knock, knock," she said. Lori turned to her and smiled. "Hey, I know I don't really know y'all yet, but I just wanted to say that I'm really glad your boy is gonna be okay."

Lori's smile grew. "Thanks, it means a lot." She noticed the girl looked fidgety and nervous about something. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah, actually. Glenn told me there might be a spare tent I could use? I don't mean to be a bother…"

"Of course. It's not doin' any good just sitting here, is it?" Rylie smiled and nodded as Lori grabbed it from the back. "Here you go, sweetie."

Rylie gratefully took the bundle and after looking around, started to set up next to a tent that was already pitched. She made quick work of it, trying to hurry as she knew the others would be meeting soon. Once it was up – a decent sized thing – she threw her bag and weapons inside, figuring she would organize it all later. She headed over to where the others were already gathered around the hood of one of the cars just in time to hear Hershel scold Rick for thinking about going out today. She sidled up next to Andrea and Maggie to look at the map that was spread out.

Hershel also told Shane he couldn't be going out there with his ankle. "Looks like its jus' me. Imma head back to the creek 'n make my way back from there."

"I can still be useful. Drive back to the interstate, see if Sophia made her way back," Shane offered.

"I can track pretty good myself," Rylie piped up. "I'd like to help, if y'all need me."

"I don't need no babysitter," Daryl said to her sharply. Rylie rolled her eyes. _Back to square one, huh?_

"Tomorrow we could use you, Rylie, when we team up," Rick said. "We start doin' this right tomorrow."

She nodded, not exactly happy with having to sit still for the day but seeing no other option. "We can't just go out there with knives, Rick," Shane stated. "We need the gun training we've been promising them."

"I prefer you not carry guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp," Hershel said.

Rylie looked at him like he was crazy before composing her features. It was one thing to try to be safe and something entirely different to be flat out naïve. In this new world, you better always have a gun on you, just in case.

"With all due respect, if we get a crowd of those things wanderin' in here…" Shane started.

Rick cut him off, trying to tell them that this was Hershel's land and that they would respect his wishes. As if to prove his point, Rick laid down his gun and looked at Shane expectantly. Rylie was suddenly extremely grateful she had tossed hers in her tent. It wasn't that she was going to be disrespectful, but she had a real issue with people taking her stuff. And her Glock _was_ hers.

When the situation came up on what to do should they find Sophia bit, she saw the unease pass between Maggie and Hershel, something she made a mental note to look into later. As some of the group split up, she ran to catch up to Daryl. Everyone else was busy working together to set up tents and get things organized, but she had to talk to him.

"Daryl!" she called, catching up to him. She wondered why he was heading towards her tent, but brushed it off. "Hey, look, I need to ask you something."

"Whaddya want, girl?" he asked her.

She resisted the urge to make a face at him, annoyed at the constant use of him calling her 'girl.' He stopped walking right in front of the tent she was pitched next to and she realized it was his. She smirked. "Looks like we're neighbors," she teased, knowing it would irk him.

"Great," he huffed, unzipping his tent. When he didn't invite her to join him, she entered anyway. It would be better if they had privacy anyway. "The hell do you think you're doin'?" he barked at her.

She shrugged. "I told you I needed to ask you something."

"Then fuckin' ask from out there. This is my tent."

"I understand that, relax. Look, how well do you know Shane?" she asked, trying to get this over with.

He wasn't at all comfortable with her being this close to him in his space. He figured the best way to get her out was the just answer her damn question. "Well enough, I guess."

He watched as she started to chew her lip while she thought and had to tear his eyes away. "Well, it's just, he seems like a loose cannon to me is all."

"You just met him," he stated, trying to keep his hands busy by grabbing his weapons. He needed to focus on what he was going to need while looking for Sophia today, and she was making that increasingly difficult for him.

She turned heated eyes on him, annoyed at implication that she didn't know what she was talking about. "I _know_, that's why I'm talking to you about it, dumbass." He glared at her and went to open his mouth, probably to yell at her, but she cut him off. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I'm just confused. During Otis's memorial, when Shane was talking about what happened? Well, I just got some heavy vibes that he was lying."

This grabbed his attention. He had the same feeling and was secretly glad to know he wasn't alone in thinking that. "Makes you say that?"

"Psychologist in training. I'm really good at figuring out when people are telling the truth or not. And Shane was definitely not," she answered hesitantly. She was still new to the group, and she didn't want to step on anyone's toes, but she felt like she could trust Daryl to keep this between them.

He shrugged but filed what she had said away in his head to think about later. "What do you want me to do 'bout it? Right now I got a little girl to find, so move," he demanded.

"Oh, right, sorry," she said. Due to the tight space, they didn't have much room to move about. She moved to the right, to try to let him past, just as he moved to his left. They caught themselves right before they smacked into each other, but paused, both freezing at the sudden closeness of the other.

His breath caught in his throat as he looked down into those big grey eyes and got a whiff of something floral. She could feel the heat radiating off of his body and it sent chills down her spine. They stared at each other a moment too long before Daryl pushed past her, muttering under his breath about how "damn girl keeps getting' in my way". Rylie took a deep calming breath, telling herself she was being foolish, before she exited his living space to go find Lori or Carol and see if they needed help setting up the rest of camp.

_You're bein' a fool, Ry. You're 28 for Christ's sake. Pull your shit together, he's just a man._ But she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder to look at him as he stalked towards the forest line.


	7. Part of the Group

**halodoll89 – Thanks very much! I'll try to keep posting as often as I can!  
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**If any of you have any suggestions on what you might like to see happen, please let me know. I always enjoy hearing from you all! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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As Rylie made her way back toward the RV she ran into Andrea. She watched as Andrea's eyes went to her hip before returning to her gaze. "Your gun suddenly go missing?" she asked.

"Yeah! Strangest thing, huh?" she teased. She couldn't read the look in Andrea's eyes so she figured she'd better play it safe. "You gonna tell anyone? I mean, it's not like I'm gonna be waving it around or anything…"

Andrea stared at her for a while before responding. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Don't make me regret that, though."

Rylie smile appreciatively. "'Course not! Promise." Once Andrea nodded and headed over to Shane, Rylie made her way over to Carol, who was finishing setting up her tent. "Hey, Carol," she greeted. "You need any help with that?"

Carol smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sure. That'd be great, thanks."

The two worked together to finish getting the tent up and her belongings inside before Carol excused herself to the RV. Rylie, once again not knowing what else to do, decided she should get her things organized since everyone else seemed to have everything covered.

Once inside her humble abode, she got to business. She spread her sleeping bag out and placed a pillow Carol had given her at the back of the tent at the head of her bag. Dumping all of her pack's contents onto the ground, she decided the heat today was way too much for pants and changed into jean shorts. Taking one of her pocket knives, she slipped it into her front pocket – no way was she going to be completely unarmed. Thinking of her gun, she was careful to hide it in the back corner of the tent, covering it with a large hoodie she didn't think she'd be using anytime soon. Once her other clothes were folded neatly and placed in a pile, she laid her machete down on top of them so it'd always be within arm's reach.

Nodding happily at her work, she exited her tent just in time to see T-Dog run back to the camp from one of the fields. "You good?" she asked him.

"We might have a problem. Help me get the others?" he asked. She nodded and together they grabbed Shane, Glenn, Maggie, Lori, and Andrea before heading off to the well where Dale stood looking down.

_Uh oh_, she thought, observing his face. They all gathered around the well and looked down to see a severely water logged and bloated walker standing in the water. "Great," she mumbled.

"Looks like we got ourselves a swimmer," Dale stated, shinning a flashlight down in the pit. They all discussed what they thought the next course of action should be. T-Dog suggested shooting it but Maggie and Andrea disagreed and said that if the walker hadn't contaminated the water yet, it surely would by shooting it. Rylie didn't see how it couldn't have already contaminated it yet – with the way this sucker looked, it had to have!

When lowering a canned ham down into the well to try to get its attention didn't work, they realized they needed live bait – something warm, squirmy, and fresh. Yummy. Rylie felt bad when that role fell upon Glenn, but she knew it had to be done. Shane worked on tying Glenn securely while the rest of them held onto the rope that was looped around the well pump. Maggie was pacing back and forth, truly not a fan of the plan.

"Maggie, he'll be okay," Rylie tried to reassure her, though she wasn't quite sure herself. Glenn looked scared as hell, but Rylie felt a whole new huge respect growing for this man.

Maggie looked at Rylie like she didn't believe her. "You people are crazy," she said, worry etched on her face.

"You wanna get it outta your well or not?" Shane barked, grabbing onto the front of the rope.

"Go ahead and give us an eye there, Maggie," Dale suggested. Maggie looked at Rylie, who was in the middle of the lineup, before heading over to the well.

They started to work together, slowly lowering Glenn down – who had another lasso to sling around the walker. Rylie heard Maggie yell down to Glenn asking if he was okay, but she couldn't hear his response. Suddenly, she heard the low whine of metal under pressure. Looking up she realized it was the well pump, and that it wasn't going to hold. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched it give under Glenn's weight. "No!" she shouted, right as the pump broke.

She, Shane, and T-Dog all lunged for the rope as it started to fall into the well, lowering Glenn to his death. She and Shane's hands were the closest, their feet pushing against the lip of the well to give them leverage. Rylie was aware of Glenn screaming for them to pull him up, and was also aware of the sharp bite of the coarse rope against her tender palms.

"Hang on, Glenn!" "Pull!" "Come on!" "Glenn!" "Oh my God!" Everyone seemed to be shouting at once as they all struggled to lift the boy out of the well. They soon found their footing and leverage and were able to start scooting back as a whole, dragging Glenn back up to safety. He was soon crawling out and everyone gathered around him, Lori hugging him, as they all panted and sighed in relief that he was safe.

"Well, guess its back to the drawing board…," Dale said after a moment.

Glenn stood up, a small smile of satisfaction on his lips. "Says you," he panted. They watched as there was a pull on the rope, meaning that during the chaos, Glenn had done his job. Rylie let out a whoop of joy and grabbed Glenn around the neck, kissing the top of his head loudly. He blushed slightly and everyone chuckled before getting back to work. Maggie went and got a horse to help haul the damned thing out of the well.

Before long, they were all helping to pull the heavy walker up. Lori and Maggie were coaxing the horse and T-Dog was being their eyes as everyone else pulled. Rylie could feel the sting of the rope digging into her already cut up hands, but swallowed back the pain. "Come on guys, a little more. Keep pulling," T encouraged.

The disgustingly fat walker finally breached the top of the well as they strained to get him fully out. The more they pulled, the more the rope tightened, and soon, the walker split in half due to all of the water it took in. They all watched in disgust as it's bottom half spilled into the well and its top half continued to reach for them. Rylie had seen a lot of gross things in her day, especially since the zombie apocalypse, but this? This definitely ranked number one. She could feel her insides churning as the intestines, spine, and guts hung out loosely.

"We're going to have to seal the well off," Dale said after a moment.

Rylie looked around and was happy to see she wasn't the only morbidly disgusted by the sight in front of them. "Yeah, might be a good idea," Shane agreed. For some reason, it surprised Rylie to see he, too, was grossed out.

"So what do we do about - "

T-Dog cut Andrea off by smashing it's head in several times. Rylie turned away pressing a hand to her mouth and saw Maggie head off with tears in her eyes. _Girl has probably never seen anything even close to this before living out here in the safe haven, _she thought. She noticed Glenn looking after her as well and hoped the boy had enough sense to be gentle if he planned on talking to her about it. "Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it," T-Dog said sarcastically.

Everyone split off to finish their business for the day, but Rylie stayed with Dale and Lori to help seal the well off. As the three of them lifted the wooden board, she winced at the contact to her palms. "You okay, sweetie?" Lori asked once the job was done.

She smiled. "Yeah, no biggie. Just some rope burn is all," Rylie responded, looking down at her bloodied hands.

"Maybe you should go have Hershel take a look," Dale suggested.

She shook her head. "Nah, it's okay. They just need to get washed up is all." She didn't want all the fuss, it was just a little cut. But it felt nice to have people care about her.

Lori came up next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "He can at least put something on it to clean it up. I'll take you. Then you can meet Carl," she offered.

The two headed into the house and Rylie tried not to feel intrusive. It was the first time she'd been in a house - with living people - since this thing started and she felt rude tromping around like she owned the place. They found Hershel sitting at the dining table and Lori explained what happened and gently grabbed Rylie's hands to show him the gashes.

"We'll just put some peroxide on 'em and they'll be fine," Hershel said kindly. Lori left them as Hershel took Rylie into another room and fixed her up.

"It's really no big deal. I don't know why they're fussing so much," Rylie said.

Hershel smiled at her. "It never hurts to be safe." He finished cleaning them but when he went to bandage them, she shook her head.

"No need for that. They'll heal on their own. Thank you," she said kindly. When he went to leave, she gently placed a hand on his arm. "Really… thank you. For everything. This place is like a slice of heaven, and I just wanted to say thank you for letting us on your property."

He gave her a tense smile. "I'm sure there are other slices of heaven along the way. But you're welcome." Rylie stared after the man, trying to process what he had just said. _Didn't exactly sound like a 'you're welcome to stay' invitation to me…_ Shrugging it off, she decided not to worry about it. She walked to the front room rubbing her hands – which were significantly less bloody than before – and knocked on the open door. Rick sat next to the bed, looking exhausted, and a young boy with a bandage lay sleeping.

"Mind if I come in?" she asked, smiling gently. Rick returned her smile and nodded and she entered, sitting in a chair opposite Rick. They were silent as she stared at the boy. "He's a tough kid," she chuckled admirably. "I'm glad he's going to pull through."

"We all are," Rick agreed, smiling affectionately at his son. "Thank you for volunteering to help look for Sophia," he said after a moment.

"Of course, it's the least I could do. Like I said earlier, I have some experience tracking. We'll find her, Rick," she comforted. She made sure to avoid saying alive. She fully believed they would find her, but she didn't want to encourage false hope. "Thank you guys for taking me in. I really don't know how much longer I could have lasted out there on my own…"

"You're one of us now, Rylie. We're glad to have you," he said kindly. His words seemed to settle a restless something in her she hadn't known was there, and a comfort took its place. They chatted for a while about small things before Rylie excused herself to leave. It was late in the day and she wanted to see if she could help make dinner. As she walked out of the house, she ran into Shane.

"Thanks for helping out earlier," he said awkwardly.

Rylie, feeling awkward herself, nodded. "Wasn't about to let Glenn become walker food." She rubbed her neck, wincing at the pressure on her still tender wound.

"You good?" Shane asked. Before she could respond, he grabbed her hand to look at it. She looked at him in shook as he just assumed she was okay with him touching her. "Looks okay," he observed, running his fingers over her hand.

It made her skin crawl, the way he was touching her, and she yanked her hand back, cradling it against her chest. "It is, thanks," she insisted before pushing past him. _Fuckin' creep,_ she thought. She just kept getting more and more bad vibes from him, and she didn't like it.

As she made her way into camp, she rounded the back of the RV and halted at hearing Daryl's soft and gruff voice through the screen window.

"…Cherokee mothers were grieving and cryin' so much 'cuz they were loosin' their little ones along the way. Exposure, disease, starvation… a lot of 'em jus' disappeared. So the elders said a prayer, asked for a sign to uplift the mother's spirits and give them strength, hope." Rylie found herself pressing a hand to her heart as she eavesdropped on the story. "The next day this rose started to grow, right where the mother's tears fell… I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers bloomin' for my brother. But uh, I believe this one? It bloomed for your little girl."

Tears stung the back of Rylie's eyes at the beautiful words she just heard, and at the kindness that was quietly lurking in Daryl. She figured he was talking to Carol, and the fact that he would go out of his way to comfort the sad mother spoke volumes to her. It was silent for a moment before there was moving around in the RV. She backed up so she wouldn't be caught listening to their conversation, but watched as Daryl exited the vehicle. As she watched him head to his tent, she felt something touch at her heart strings and smiled after him.


	8. Captivated

**Lots of Daryl time in this chapter and the next! I really hope you all like and tell me what you think. This chapter is a bit long, but hey, more for you to read! :)**

**Also, it would be much appreciated if you all voted on my Daryl One-Shot poll on my home page! Would like to know what you guys think, so please vote!**

**halodoll89 and LionHeartSid, as always thank you for your reviews! And thank you to all of my followers and those who've favorited! Enjoy, darlings!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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That night she helped Lori make dinner for everyone. As they all sat around the fire eating, Rylie noticed that Daryl sat back from everyone. Close enough to be considered a part of the group, but far enough away to be a loner. As she picked at her yummy squirrel meat and listened to the idle chat going around the group, she decided _'What the hell?'_ Taking her plate, she got up and went over to sit on the log with him. She had to bite her cheek to keep from smirking when she saw his somewhat pissed off face out of the corner of her eye.

They sat in silence for a while before Rylie spoke up. "You don't have to be such a loner, you know," she stated.

"Who says I don't wanna be alone?" he asked. His tone told Rylie that he was trying to tell her to go away, but she wasn't about to give up that easily.

She shrugged, taking a bite of food. "You don't. You want to sit with everyone but you feel like you don't belong."

He was quiet after that so she turned to look at him and met his harsh glare. "You don't know me, girl," he growled.

She stared at him a moment with her soft grey eyes, and suddenly felt like she had crossed a line. Here she was making assumptions about a man that didn't even really like her. And she realized she didn't like that thought – she _wanted_ him to like her. Rylie wouldn't have been able to explain why, she didn't even know herself! The man was constantly trying to get rid of her or be mean, but the feeling was there none the less. She averted his gaze, suddenly very interested in her food. "I would like to get to know you," she said quietly. The silence that followed her statement was killing her and she was mentally berating herself for saying such a foolish thing. But she refused to look up.

Finally he scoffed. "Why? I ain't nothin' special."

_Damage control time._ She looked up at him, smirking. "Maybe I like annoying you. No one here seems to hate me as much as you do, so maybe I find that interesting."

He rolled his eyes and went back to eating, but she thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch. "Stupid girl," he muttered.

"I _do_ have a name, boy-o," she said, mildly annoyed. So what if she just wanted to hear him say it again? She was just getting tired of being called 'girl' all the damned time. She finished her food and after setting her plate down, rested her hands on the log to lean back. Big mistake. She hissed in pain as the rough wood dug into her palms. She knew by morning they would be scabbed over enough to where they wouldn't be so sensitive, but she just kept forgetting about them!

She tried to observe them in the fire light to make sure splinters hadn't made themselves at home in her flesh. Rylie felt eyes on her but tried to ignore it. "What'd you do?" he asked, watching her.

"Nothin'," she answered. After plucking a small piece of wood out, she showed him one of her hands. "Just a little rope burn from trying to save Glenn from being walker lunch," she explained.

The next thing she knew, his hands grabbed hers to look at it. This was _very_ unlike when Shane had touched her. A familiar jolt passed through her fingers and through her body as his calloused fingers trailed over her hands. "The hell happened with Glenn?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

She told him the story to keep her mind off of how good his hands felt, not entirely succeeding. All too soon, he dropped her hand and the warmth from his touch died away. He chuckled when she finished telling the story. "Would'a sucked for the Chinaman if y'all hadn't been so quick on your feet."

She tried to think of something witty to say, but found herself staring stupidly into his eyes. _You're making a fool out of yourself! Do something, you moron!_ But she was captivated.

Rylie's smokey grey eyes were staring at him and he wondered what the hell her problem was. Then he noticed she was chewing her lip, which for some reason, sent an arrow of lust straight to his gut. He didn't understand why he found that so sexy, and thankfully he didn't have to think about it for long.

"Hey, Rylie!" T-Dog called, snapping her back to reality. It was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her, and thank God for it.

She turned to look at the group, where everyone's eyes were on them. "Sup?" she asked smiling. She tried to suppress a blush as she wondered if they had seen her acting like a schoolgirl.

"We were just talkin' about the well incident and thought you'd like to chip in," he said.

Daryl watched as the girl laughed and stood up to head back over to the others. He tried to avert his gaze when she bent over to pick up her plate, but couldn't help sneak a peek as her shorts left little to the imagination. She left without another word or look in his direction, leaving him confused and frustrated. _You're actin' like a fuckin' teenager. She ain't the first attractive girl you've seen,_ he scolded himself. _But she may be the last…_

The next morning Rylie woke up early, happy and rested. She stretched out before sitting up, running her hands through her hair. She grimaced at how dirty it felt, but realized it didn't really matter if she was going to be spending the day out in the woods looking for Sophia. She changed out of her sweatpants and tank and put on jean pants and a green tank top. Still feeling self-conscious, she pulled her wavy hair up into a high pony tail so it looked less offensive. Strapping her machete to her hip, she stepped out of her tent and stretched again, loving the moist morning air.

She saw that some of the camp was already up and moving. She had some hard leftover squirrel from the night before, smiling at Andrea as she joined her. She helped out with some early morning chores before Rick called everyone who would be helping with the search over to the car where they had set up base. She stood next to Daryl and was sad to see that his arms were covered today by a flannel shirt.

"Alright, today we're all gonna get grids to search," Rick explained motioning to the map. "Shane and I will take grid 1, T and Andrea, you two will take this grid, and Rylie and Daryl, you two take this grid over here." _Lovely,_ she thought.

"I work better on my own," Daryl commented.

Rick shook his head. "We do this in teams. Work together to cover more ground on these grids."

He mumbled something under his breath that Rylie didn't catch, and she rolled her eyes. Each team was given some shredded rags, each of a different color to mark their way through their grids in case any of them crossed over. She and Daryl received black. Guns were handed out to those that wanted or needed them but they both refused, happy with their weapons.

They all split up and headed into the woods in their respective grids. After walking for awhile, both of them keeping their eye out for any sign of the little girl, she had had enough of the silent treatment. "I know you're not too fond of me, but you did promise you'd give me a shot," she reminded him.

"Yeah, well we got somethin' we need to be focusin' on," he shot back.

"Don't mean we can't chat, help pass the time." When all she got was a grunt, she shrugged. "Let me start then. We'll play the question game." She ripped a piece off of a rag and tied it around a branch, trying to think of a good question. "How old are you?"

"33," he responded shortly. After he answered he didn't say anything, making Rylie sigh. "This is where you ask me a question."

"Fine, how old are you?" he repeated.

"28, but that doesn't count. You have to ask a different question," she answered, kneeling down to look at a broken branch. She realized it was from an animal and kept walking.

"The hell kind'a stupid rule is that?" Rylie just gave him a look that told him he wasn't getting out of it. "Whatever. What's your full name?"

She smiled. "Rylie Ann Jacobs. How'd you get so good at all of this?"

"Good at what?"

"This," she said, gesturing all around them. "Hunting and tracking and stuff."

He shrugged, ducking under a low tree branch. "Merle used to take me huntin' when we were kids and my pa wasn't around. You catch on pretty quick when it ain't just a game but for survival. It becomes all that you know, like second nature." He paused for a moment trying to think of another question. He didn't even know why he was playing this stupid game anyway. He liked the quiet when he was tracking, but he knew with this girl that wasn't going to happen. "Why'd you come down to Georgia?"

This caused her to hesitate, debating on how much she should tell him. After a second, she realized it didn't really matter if he knew her entire past – in this new world, nothing really mattered from before. "Had a bad break up with the guy I'd been dating for a while. My school was on break so I figured I'd get away, take my mind off of everything for a bit. I had some friends down here that said they'd love to see me, so I drove down and made a road trip out of it. I had planned to stay for about a week partying it up and just having fun." Looking up, she saw a stumbling form through the trees. "Those plans obviously went to crap when these assholes decided to take over the damn world," she finished, motioning towards the creature that had yet to notice them.

Daryl saw her movement and followed her gaze. Raising his bow, he aimed and hit the walker dead on, causing it to slump to the ground. He smiled, satisfied, and made his way over to retrieve his arrow. Rylie followed, trying not to be impressed by his perfect aim. She scanned the area surrounding them to check for more walkers while he cleaned the arrow off and reloaded before asking her question. "You got a girl waitin' for you anywhere?" She turned to look at him over her shoulder and shrugged at his confused look. "Just a question…" she defended.

"No," he answered shortly. He didn't know why she was asking about other girls. _Maybe 'cuz she's interested_, a voice in the back of his head chirped. He didn't want to admit that hearing that she had no one waiting for her either had sent a possessive feeling for the girl through him. "This is stupid. We need to focus, Rylie," he barked, no longer wanting to play the game.

Her stomach flipped again – as it had done the first time he used her name – and she looked at him surprised. He didn't seem to realize what he had done as he kept leading the way. Maybe it was the surprise of hearing her name, but she decided to let it go. So for the next couple of hours, they tracked in silence. An occasional comment here or there, communicating what they each found, but before long, they decided to trek back. They figured if they headed back at a different angle they would cover different ground but still get spit out at the farm. After about another hour, they came across a clearing with a large pond nestled in the middle. There was a small dock that led into the water, and Rylie realized that they must be closer to the farm than she realized.

"Was this a part of our grid?" she asked Daryl as they headed towards the dock.

He shrugged, looking around. "Dunno. Have to check the map once we git back," he said. Rylie eyed the inviting water. Once again, it had been a hot Georgian day, and while the trees had provided some much needed relief from the sun, it was still sweltering. She was dripping with sweat and noticed Daryl was too. She desperately wanted to just jump in and swim around, but wasn't sure that it would be such a good idea. She glanced at Daryl's hard expression as he continued to scan the area around the water, looking for any signs of trouble.

_Fuck it, _she thought. She was hot, tired, dirty and desperate for something fun. And she could tell he was, too, even if he wouldn't admit it. She started to strip, right there in front of him. The look on his face was priceless when he looked at her– a mix between pure shock and pure male appreciation. When she was only in her green tank and underwear, she spared Daryl a saucy wink before running off the deck and doing a cannon ball into the pond. When she surfaced, she laughed at Daryl, who had yet to move a muscle. Treading water, she grinned at him. "Come on in! Feels great!" she encouraged loudly.

He finally snapped out of his trance and glared at her. "You better shut yer trap, girl," he warned, looking around woods surrounding them. He was desperately trying not to think about how wonderfully toned those long legs had looked before she disappeared into the water. Or the way his blood was currently boiling. At this point, he _wished_ a walker would come running at him to take his mind off of the crazy girl who was beckoning to him.

She chuckled. "Or what? You gonna shoot me?" When the only response she got was a look of doubt, she attempted to splash water at him. "Don't be such a pussy and get in!" she challenged. He gave her a look that told her she was in trouble, and she grinned back, daring him to do something about it.

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**Please review and let me know what you think! Also, don't forget to vote on my poll! Thanks, loves!**


	9. Swimming and Fighting

**Here is a long one, just for you darlings! I would REALLY like feedback on this chapter so I know how I did. I hope you love it as much as I do! Again, a very big thank you to all of my followers and those who favorite! Would love to hear what you all have to say! :) Also, please don't forget to vote on my poll! It would mean a lot!**

**LionHeartSid, halodoll89, and sarabear91 – I'm really trying to take your suggestions to heart, so hopefully I don't let you guys down! Your words always encourage me!**

**Read on! Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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Looking at her, Daryl saw her mischievous smirk and thought, _Fuck it. Grow a pair and git in there_. He told himself he was stripping down his boxers simply because he hated being called a pussy, but they both knew that wasn't the case. She was like a siren calling for him, and he couldn't resist.

She dipped lower in the water, eyes lit up with desire and fun. It had been far too long since she – since any of them really – had just let loose and had a bit of fun. When Daryl carefully lay his crossbow down on his discarded clothes, he gave her the sexy smirk she had only seen a few times and it sent her heart fluttering before he jumped into the water, splashing her with his impact.

She laughed and it felt so good to just forget about everything else for a while; to just have fun and be human again. When he surfaced, she ran her hand through the water and splashed him playfully.

"Hey!" he shouted, turning a glare on her.

She grinned wickedly at him. "Catch me if you can, boy-o!" She started to swim away, laughing. But when she didn't hear any sign of pursuit, she stopped and turned around only to discover Daryl had disappeared! She scanned the pond, looking for movement, then the water bank and dock. Nothing. Her brows knitted together in confusion. "Daryl?" she called.

Suddenly, something wrapped around her ankle. She had enough time to yelp in surprise before she was pulled under. She felt movement next to her as she fumbled around weightlessly for a moment. _Oh, he's gonna get it now._ When she came back up she was greeted by the sound of Daryl's gruff laughter – a foreign yet welcome sound.

"Ass! You cheated!" she pouted.

He shrugged unapologetically. "'S what you get, girl."

A silence fell upon them, and Rylie was suddenly hyper-aware of how close their bodies were. She stared into his cool blue eyes and felt her stomach flip. Two options were available to her - either she could swim away and continue on as if there wasn't an obvious cackle in the air between them, or she could act on it. She bit her lip, thinking about it, and watched as his eyes flickered down at the movement, a hunger growing in those blue orbs. That did it. _YOLO and shit, right?_

Gracefully, she closed the gap between them, pressing her body up against his. She ran her hands up his sides, then back down again, settling on his hips. Leaning closer, her heart racing a mile a minute, she moved her lips to his ear. "You gonna kiss me or what, Redneck?" she purred, letting her tongue flick over his ear lobe seductively.

She heard a primal growl rumble out of his chest – exciting her greatly – before she was grabbed roughly and his warm lips were crashing down on hers. Gasping, she responded quickly and threw her arms around his neck and digging her fingers into his hair. _Oh yes,_ she thought, _it had been way too long._ He kissed her greedily, and she returned it with equal fervor. She felt his tongue skate across her lower lip and with an appreciative moan she granted him access. She hadn't realized how much she had been craving him. Everything else vanished – here was just pure unbridled lust.

God, he couldn't get enough of this woman. He felt her wrap those legs around his waist and all but lost control. His hands ventured south and grabbed her firm ass, bringing her closer to him and grinding against her. Who knew this small survivalist girl could turn into such a sexy minx! She let out another moan at his touch and nipped his lip, driving him crazy.

She felt like they were going to devour each other whole, and they probably would have, had there not been a sudden rustling from the bushes nearby. Instantly the moment turned cold and they both pulled away from each other, sinking lower in the water. Her eyes were wide as she looked around nervously. Rylie was pretty sure walkers didn't have the mental capacity to swim, but she didn't like how vulnerable they were at the moment. _That's what you get for being impulsive and not thinkin' with your head, dumbass. _

Daryl grabbed her wrist under the water and slowly stared to make his way over towards the dock, pulling her along. Right as they reached the dock, she saw a walker emerge from the bushes, stumbling around aimlessly. She and Daryl hid under the dock, both submerged as low in the water as possible. He held her against him and she could feel his heart pounding in a frantic rhythm with hers against her back.

They stayed like that for a long while, listening while the walker staggered around not but 10 feet from them. It's moaning and heavy breathing were sounds that automatically had her adrenaline pumping, causing her to tremble. Minutes seemed like hours as they waited for the walker to move on. Once it was quiet, they stayed hidden for a few extra minutes before moving. Rylie slowly made her way to the edge of the dock and looked over the edge, searching for any sign of the thing. When she realized the coast was clear, she nodded to Daryl before hauling herself up on the dock. She had a strong and sudden urge to have a weapon in her hand after that.

Rylie picked up her sheathed machete and turned to look at Daryl, who was still in the water. "Well that was fun," she teased, trying to lighten the mood. A small smirk crossed Daryl's features before it was replaced with a look of fear. "Rylie!"

She spun around to see the walker lunge at her. She dropped her blade and had enough time to grab its raised hands before it knocked her to the ground. "Daryl!" she screamed, fighting to hold the thing off of her. The walker had her pinned, and the only thing stopping it from clawing its way through her and shredding her apart was the small amount of leverage she had on its wrists. It's cloudy eyes stared at her hungrily as it growled and continually snapped it's bloody jaws at her face. Rylie felt her arms slowly weaken, shocked at the strength the rotting corpse had, and a terrifying thought ran through her head – _You're done for._

She'd be damned if she'd give up, though, and continued to struggle for an advantage. _Where the hell is Daryl?!,_ she thought as she screamed out. As if on cue, a knife was suddenly plunged into its skull, causing the walker to cease moving immediately. Rylie shoved it off of her quickly, shuddering at the thought that she was almost a goner. Looking up, panting from the struggle, she met Daryl's glare.

"Thanks," she said, confused at his pissed off look. "Don't look so thrilled at saving me, Daryl, you'll make me blush," she said sarcastically when he continued to stare at her.

"Stupid girl," he hissed, before turning his back on her to get his clothes.

She noticed the scars that riddled his back, but was currently more concerned with his comment. She stood up slowly and narrowed her eyes at him. "Excuse me?"

"You're too damn reckless an' stupid," he growled and he tugged his pants on. "You're gonna git us both killed."

Her brows knit together in anger as she processed what he said. "Now hold on just a second! You're pissed off at me because a walker just tried to tear my face off?" she asked him.

He finally turned to look at her as he pulled his shirt on. "If you'd looked around when you got out of the water, you would'a seen this fucker before it was on you. Stupid an' reckless," he seethed.

She stared at him for another moment before she snatched her pants off the ground and yanked them on. "Un-fucking-believable," she hissed. "Typical man; it's always the woman's fault."

"I just saved your sorry ass, girl," he barked, slinging his bow over his shoulder. "You oughta be more thankful."

"I planned on it before you started throwing a hissy fit," she threw back, stuffing her feet into her boots. He muttered a 'whatever' under his breath and pushed past her to head back to the forest. "Hey!" she called after him, grabbing her machete and running after him. "You've got a real problem, you know that?"

He ignored her and kept walking, steamed. She acted too impulsively and it pissed him off. His heart had stopped when he had seen the walker fall on top of her and acted as quickly as he could. He had to fumble through his clothes before he had found his pocket knife. By the time he had killed the walker, it had been inches away from Rylie's face. He realized he was more pissed with himself for being worried about her the way he was. He shouldn't care, but he did.

"So are we just not going to talk about what happened back there, Daryl?" he heard her voice behind him.

"We just did. You were dumb and almost became walker food," he growled.

"Before that!" Oh, he remembered that all too well. He wasn't sure what would have happened if that walker hadn't come along, but he didn't want to think about it. It wasn't as if he hadn't been with other women before. But Rylie? She was something entirely different. The way her body had felt against his, the way her soft lips felt against his, and those legs of hers… "So, what, we're just going to pretend nothing happened?" she pushed. He kept trudging through the woods, hoping she would shut up and drop it. Of course, she didn't. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" she shouted before shoving him.

Something inside of him snapped at her touch and he whirled around to face her, quickly pinning her to a tree. Her breath caught in her throat at his fast movement and the look in his eyes. "Ain't nothin' happened," he snarled, his southern drawl making him sound all the more dangerous.

Defiant as ever, she met his glare with one of her own. "Like hell it didn't." He had her arms pinned to her sides and his face was inches from her own, sending a thrill through her body. How was it this man could infuriate the hell out of her and yet her body could still have this reaction to him? Her eyes moved to the lips that had just been on hers and her gut clenched. "You gonna sit there and tell me you don't feel it?" she whispered.

He growled softly – again sending a jolt through her – and for a moment she thought –hoped- he was going to kiss her again. She closed her eyes, waiting, but was disappointed when he pulled away. "I don't feel nothin'," he said, turning to walk away. She clenched her fist tightly at her stupidity and pushed off the tree to follow him.

"You're a true and genuine dick, you know that?" she barked after him. When she once again didn't receive a response, she rolled her eyes and kept her mouth shut for the remainder of their hike.

**XXX**

That night, Rylie couldn't sleep. One would think that after almost getting one's face chewed off, one would be exhausted. She was not so lucky. Every time she closed her eyes, Daryl's piercing blue ones invaded her mind's eye. She couldn't stop thinking about the way his strong muscled arms had held her, or the passion in which he had kissed her. She sat up with an annoyed groan and pulled her hair lightly. _Get it out of your head! It was a one-time thing, brought on by the heat and just being in the moment. You can't stand him and he can't stand you. Knock it off_, she scolded herself.

Accepting the fact that sleep wasn't an option at the moment, she left her tent. There were still some embers glowing in the fire pit from dinner, but other than that, the camp was still. She took a deep breath to clear her head, and realized the air was cooler than normal. She hoped that was a good sign for the days ahead of them, she wasn't sure how much more of this heat she could take. Sure it got hot in Michigan, but this was dreadful. She made a mental note to see if she could make a run into town soon to stock up on winter clothes for everyone.

Deciding to see who was on watch duty, she scaled the back of the RV, trying to be as quiet as possible. Once up there she saw Shane sitting on a lawn chair with the rifle resting in his lap. She turned immediately and went to head back down, but it was too late. "Whadda you doin' up?" came his gruff voice.

She turned back around to face him and plastered a fake smile on. "Couldn't sleep is all," she explained casually.

"You can sit a while, if you want," he offered. Rylie realized that there was no way of getting out of it without seeming outright rude, and she also realized that he wasn't being a creep, just being friendly. _For now_, she thought bitterly.

She sat down next to him and was reminded of her first night with the group when she sat next to Dale. Lord, could that only have been a few days ago?

"So tell me a bit about yourself, Rylie," he started. She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. _Cop interrogation time…_

She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the fields before her. There was enough moonlight to see if any walkers were approaching. "What's there to tell? Y'all know basically all there is to know about me."

"Why don't you tell me how a little thing like you was able to survive out there all by yourself?" he pushed.

She bristled at the accusatory tone of his voice. She looked up at him with narrow eyes. "What? Don't think a woman is capable of handling herself, Shane?"

"Didn't say that, now did I?" she shot back, glancing down at her. "All I'm sayin' is its highly unlikely."

She knew what he was getting at. He didn't think she could have done it alone, so naturally she must have other people. After everything, the prick still didn't trust her. Wasn't he the one who thanked her just yesterday for helping them with Glenn? She watched as he lifted his hand to his mouth to take a sip of a canned beer she hadn't noticed before. _Ah,_ she thought. _So he's got some liquid courage in him to give him some balls_.

"You know what else is unlikely, Shane?" she started, done with being polite. When he looked at her she met his gaze. "Your story about how Otis died." She watched as his face changed, a darkness settling over his eyes as he glared at her. "The difference between our stories, though, is that one of us is telling the truth."

If looks could kill, Rylie would be no more. She knew he was a dangerous man, and that she shouldn't challenge him, but someone had to. This man needed to understand she wasn't going to take his shit and accusations. She did, however, become suddenly aware of how alone they really were, and decided retreat was the best option at the moment. After giving him a glare of her own, she stood. "I'm suddenly really tired. Night, Shane."

He didn't say another word as she made her way back to her tent. She could only hope she hadn't just poked at the slumbering beast.

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**The good and the bad, I want to hear it! Let me know, loves! Don't forget to vote on my poll, too! Thanks everyone! **


	10. It Never Hurts

**halodoll89 and katie93319 - I really hope I dont disappoint you guys in chapters to come as far as Rylie's interaction with Shane. Trying to build it up, so thanks for your reviews! sarabear91 - Thank you! :) I really try to make her fiesty and witty, so I'm glad you enjoy her!**

**LionHeartSid - I'm trying to tease at their relationship to come while not making it happen to soon. It's a tough line to be on haha. But at the same time, I keep thinking about how fast Maggie and Glenn's relationship bloomed. But please keep letting me know if you ever feel like I'm advancing their feelings too soon! Thanks!**

**JeanneFate-x - Wow! Seriously, thank you so much for your review. It really encouraged me so so much. Couldn't stop smiling! Thank you!**

**Everyone else, thank you SO much for reading! Please keep the reviews coming, I live for your feedback! Please also go vote on my poll on my homepage! Thanks a bunch, loves! Enjoy chapter 10!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

* * *

"Imma take a horse, head up t' this ridge here. Get a bird's eye view of everything," Daryl said, pointing at the map. Rylie's head snapped up at the singular form he used and stared at him like he had just slapped her in the face. "If she's there, I'll see 'er."

"Good plan," T-Dog agreed.

"I'd like to help," said a voice from behind them. Jimmy walked up, looking timid. Rick asked him if Hershel was okay with that and Jimmy nodded, almost too quickly, before telling everyone he was instructed to ask Rick. During all of this, Rylie tried her best to ignore the death glare she was receiving from Shane. Once everyone knew where they would be searching that day, except Rylie, they split off. Apparently no one had noticed when Daryl subtly told them all he was going out alone.

He was heading towards the stables and Rylie ran to catch up to him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

_Can't she take a hint?_ "What's it look like? I'm goin' t' look for Sophia," he stated sharply.

"Yeah, I got that. I also noticed you didn't include me in that equation." She watched as he went up to one of the stables and began to saddle one of the horses. When he didn't respond she huffed in annoyance, placing her hands on her hips. "You mind telling me what that's about?

"I ain't takin' you out with me. Not after yesterday," he explained, clearly irritated at her presence. Well good, let him be.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Daryl. You can't be serious." She didn't want to admit it, but she was relatively hurt. She knew damn well they made a good team while hunting and she didn't like that he was blowing her off. Suddenly, a thought struck her. "You sure you're pissed about the walker incident? Or are you pissed that you enjoyed kissing me?"

He turned to glare at her. "I git more done when I'm alone. I got better chances of findin' Sophia on my own. Drop it an' let it go, girl," he ordered.

"Whatever, go ahead and pout about it." She turned on her heel and headed out of the stables. "You'll miss me!" she threw over her shoulder, a smirk on her face. _Let him stew on __**that**__,_ she thought. As she stormed across the field toward the camp, she didn't notice Maggie run up to her from the house.

"What's got you all hot and bothered?" she asked, startling Rylie. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Rylie smiled and waved it off. "No biggie. And nothin' worth talking about," she said, casting a glare towards the stables. A light breeze passed through the farm, giving everyone a brief kiss of relief from the heat, and Rylie got an idea. "Hey Maggie, any way we could head into town? My plans for the day just got shot, so maybe I could run into town with you and see if we could find some warmer clothes for everyone? What with winter right around the corner 'n all."

Maggie returned her smile and nodded. "Yeah, I think that should be fine. I think the other women were going to make dinner tonight, we could see if they need anything while we're out," she suggested. She went to head towards the stables and smirked at Rylie. "You wanna go get the horses ready?"

Glaring at Maggie, she started making her way towards the camp. "You're a funny girl," she said, smiling slightly. Maggie laughed and went to get their horses while Rylie went to ask Lori if they needed anything.

**XXX**

"Cute, Maggs," Rylie chimed, watching as she held a very unflattering shirt up to herself. There was a small thrift shop in town that she and Maggie had decided to check out and as far as Rylie could tell, it hadn't been touched.

Maggie blushed slightly at Rylie's comment and put the shirt down. "I'm looking for things for Glenn," she explained as she continued to rummage through the racks.

Grinning, Rylie looked over at her. "So what's the story with you two?"

She couldn't help a smirk from spreading over her features. "Why, I have no idea what you're talkin' about," she said as innocently as she could.

"I know the afterglow of sex when I see it! And after your run into town the other day you two were both radiant!" she teased, deciding on a long sleeve shirt that looked like Carl's size.

Maggie's grin fell. "Oh Lord, was it that obvious?"

Rylie laughed. "Maybe not to everyone else, but I'm good at that kind of thing. Reading people that is." She stuffed a few women's shirts into her bag thinking they would fit Lori or Carol. They were both so skinny; it was hard to guess their sizes. She and Andrea looked to be about the same size, so she was easier to look for. She hadn't thought to ask for specific sizes after the women had said they didn't need anything from town. "You two are damn cute, I'll give you that. He's a good guy, Maggie." Rylie felt a protectiveness for Glenn like she would for a brother. In the short amount of time she had known the group, he seemed to be the one she clicked with best. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on between them, but she didn't want to see him hurt.

Rylie, not wanting to make the girl feel bad or make the moment awkward, tried to lighten the mood. "But hey, at least someone's getting some!"

Maggie had gone quiet at Rylie's last statement, but she burst out laughing at this. "It was a one-time thing," she defended, not at all convincingly. _Sound familiar?_

"Uh huh, I'm sure it was," Rylie teased. She moved over to another rack of clothes and was disappointed to see that most of them were summer oriented. She was about to head over to another section, when something caught her eye. Draped over a mannequin was a gorgeous leather jacket. It was a short cropped black biker jacket with only a few areas of wear on it. There was a cute belt that secured at the bottom and it zipped up the left side – a classic style. She checked the size and stared in awe. "No way am I this lucky…" she tried it on and all but squealed in glee as it fit perfectly. Maggie, unaware of Rylie's treasure find, said something and snapped her back to Earth. "What?" she asked, hugging the jacket to her body.

"You gonna tell me what's goin' on with you an' Daryl?" she repeated, smirking mischievously.

She busied herself with folding the coat and putting it neatly in her bag, avoiding Maggie's gaze. "Why would you think something's going on between Daryl and I?" she scoffed.

"Well yesterday y'all came stompin' out of the woods steamed to high heaven. And the fact that you aren't out lookin' for Sophia with him today says a lot, too," she explained. "Somethin' must have happened."

_Something happened alright…_ She thought about denying it, but figured a little girl talk never hurt. She was really starting to like Maggie, plus the girl had just opened up to her so it was only fair. "We found a pond in our grid and decided to take a little swim. One thing led to another and soon I was having probably the hottest makeout session of my life. Daryl Dixon is a great kisser, I'll give him that." She found a few packs of socks and shoved them in her pack as well.

"And how exactly does that explain why you two are so pissed at each other?"

"Because a walker showed up and almost got me." She saw Maggie flinch at the word 'walker'. "Anyway, he had to save me and apparently he's pissed off about that. Blames me and says I'm 'too reckless an' stupid'," she finished, mocking Daryl's gruff voice.

Maggie chuckled. "So he's just bein' a hardheaded man," she summarized. "Yeap, basically. They're all a bunch of crybabies," Rylie replied, still upset about it. She grabbed her bag and walked over to where Maggie was looking at some lacy under garments. Rylie raised an eyebrow at her and Maggie smirked while blushing slightly. "What? Never hurts to have some, just in case."

Rylie threw her head back and roared with appreciative laughter. _Girl has a point_. "Well in that case, let's see if they have any in my size!" she said, snatching a black lace bra off the top of the pile.

Maggie shook her head, grinning. "Well anyway, Daryl seems like the kind'a guy that's really… guarded, I guess. Maybe you just hit a nerve?"

Rylie sighed, exasperated. "Yeah… maybe." She hesitated, fiddling with the straps of the bra she picked out, before she continued. "I don't know why, but I…"

"You like him," Maggie said simply when she didn't finish her sentence. Rylie looked up and Maggie had to chuckle at the guilty look on her face. "It's okay to like someone, Ry."

"First of all, I don't even know him. And secondly, the man drives me batshit crazy sometimes. So I don't know if I'd say 'like'…"

"I would. Else you wouldn't be having this problem. Want my advice?" the cowgirl asked. When Rylie nodded meekly, she continued. "Just let it happen. Like I said, you probably just hit a nerve with him. So I'd just keep doing whatever you're doing and eventually you'll break through that wall of his."

Rylie grinned at her friend. "So you're the master on all of this just 'cuz you got laid?"

Maggie went to respond but her attention was drawn to the windows of the store. Rylie followed her gaze and saw that their horses were suddenly anxious. Moving quickly, she left the building with her machete drawn and looked around. There, down the road, was a walker headed their way. After she scanned the rest of their surroundings and realized there was only the one, she let instinct take over. As she neared the creature, it became more alert and reached out to her, right before she hacked her blade into its head. This one must have been dead for a while because there was no surprise blood spurts and the bone seemed softer than most of them. She turned around to see Maggie standing there, looking repulsed.

_It's a long way back to the farm. Talk about it then. Don't want things to get awkward now_. As she headed back to the store, she passed the bar and smiled. "Mind if I grab some goods before we head back?" she asked Maggie.

"Dad doesn't allow liquor in the house," she said hesitantly.

Rylie winked. "Good thing it'll be in my tent, then, huh?" Maggie smiled in return and Rylie took that as an approval. She opened the door cautiously, weapon at the ready, and was pleased when she saw it was clear. She made quick work of running behind the bar and looking for the good stuff. Grabbing an almost full bottle of Jack Daniel's and a smaller bottle of Southern Comfort, she left the bar. It never hurt to have some whiskey on hand. After securing the bottles in her bag, and checking with Maggie, they strapped everything to the horses and saddled up.

She kept a watchful eye on their surroundings as they headed back home. After riding in a comfortable silence a while, she spoke. "Maggs, have you ever killed a walker before?" she asked quietly.

"No," she answered firmly.

"Why?" she asked. She just wanted to understand how she could possibly be against it.

"Because I'm not a murder," she answered hotly.

Rylie winced at her words. "Ouch…" She knew Maggie was just upset, and knew firsthand how until you dealt with a walker up close, you had no idea what they were capable of.

Maggie sighed. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair. It's just, I don't see how y'all can kill them so easily. They're people," she explained, her hostile tone turning into a sorrow filled one.

"No, they're not, Maggie. Not anymore. People don't try to eat you for breakfast." She now understood all those looks she had seen on Maggie and Hershel's face. She could understand how hard it must be on these people who hadn't seen the horrors of the new world up close and personal. But she also knew that they couldn't remain naïve forever.

"Can we talk about somethin' else?" Maggie asked softly.

Rylie smiled in understanding, but didn't' plan to let the subject go forever. "'Course."

The rest of the ride home was filled with girl talk. They talked about what lingerie they each grabbed - giggling like school girls - what life was like for each of them before the outbreak, annoyances with the people around them now, and just got to know each other. By the time they reached the farm, Rylie's sides hurt from laughing so much, and she was grateful to have made such a good friend in Maggie. She felt like they had just spent the day out shopping at the mall. But with this happy thought, she also couldn't help but worry that the closer she got to everyone around her, the more it would hurt if she lost them. Like her friends she had lost in the beginning…

She shook herself out of it, telling herself not to ruin a good day. As she was helping Maggie with the horses, she heard shouting coming from the field. She glanced at Maggie who nodded for her to go check it out. Rylie went to the stable door and looked out, shielding her eyes from the sun. She spotted several figures running toward the tree line and saw someone standing there. She realized quickly that it was Daryl by the way he was standing – something she picked up from tracking with him – but he looked horrible.

"What the fuck?" she muttered to herself, watching the scene unfold before her. There was more shouting from the group of men and her brows furrowed in confusion. Suddenly, a single shot rang through the air and Rylie watched in horror as his form fell lifelessly to the ground.

"DARYL!"


	11. Apologies

**I am so sorry it took me this long to get this chapter out! There has been a lot of crap going on in my life right now, so I've been really distracted lately. But I made this one extra long to make up for it, so I hope you all enjoy!**

**LionHeartSid, halodoll89, sarabear91, Maddie120296, and JeanneFate-x – Thank you all so much for your support and reviews! I'm so glad you all love my story and continue to read it! Please continue to let me know what you think!**

**Everyone else, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think and feel, and don't forget to vote on my poll on my homepage! Now, read on, my dears!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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Her heart dropped to her stomach and she sprinted over to Daryl as fast she as she could. _No, no, no, no!_ She got there right as Shane and Rick picked him up and she ran in front of them, gently cupping his face in her hands. He had blood all over his chin, scratches all over his face, and he was covered in dirt. "What the hell happened?" she exclaimed when he wouldn't open his eyes. She continued to examine him and saw he had blood running from the side of his head where the bullet must have hit him and she had to suppress the panic that was rapidly rising in her.

"He's unconscious, Rylie. We'll take him to Hershel," Rick said, trying to gently nudge her out of the way.

_He's not dead… _She quickly looked over the rest of him and saw his side was bleeding as well.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, is he dead?!" a woman's voice called from behind them. Rylie spun on her heal and saw Andrea and Dale running towards them.

They started dragging Daryl along as Rick replied. "Unconscious, you just grazed him."

Rylie felt more than heard the growl come from her and in an instant, her panic turned to blind rage. "You fucking **_shot_** him?!" she asked. Before Andrea could respond, Rylie fist cracked across Andrea's jaw, sending her back a few steps. "What the hell, Andrea! Who regrets having a gun now?!"

"Hey! Rylie! Come on," Glenn said, grabbing her by the arm. She tried to ignore the throbbing in her hand as well as the tiny voice in the back of her head telling her she had just acted way out of line. He tugged on her arm again when she continued to glare at the blonde who had a hand pressed to her face. "Look. What the hell happened to him? He's wearing ears, guys!" he pointed out, finally drawing Rylie's attention back to Daryl. They all looked at the odd necklace Daryl had fashioned and glanced at each other.

Rick yanked it off from around Daryl's neck and stuffed it in his shirt. "Let's keep that to ourselves," he muttered.

"Guys!" T called. Everyone stopped and turned to face him. He was holding up a ragged looking doll that Rylie hadn't seen. "Isn't this Sophia's?"

Even through whatever it was that Daryl had been through out there, he made sure to bring back this small but key piece of hope. Rylie looked at him with admiration. As far as she was concerned, he was doing so much more than anyone else in the entire camp when it came to looking for the girl. She noticed Shane staring at her hotly as he struggled to hold Daryl up, and she suddenly really didn't like that he was touching him. After their exchange last night, she didn't really like anything that had to do with him. He hadn't done much to try to prove her wrong when she called him out on his lie, and as much as she hated to admit it, he was slightly intimidating. As they started heading towards the house again, she stepped in front of Shane and placed her hand firmly on his bare chest, keeping her eyes stern on his. "I got him. Don't want to strain your ankle anymore than necessary, right?" she asked deliberately.

He narrowed his eyes, nostrils flaring, as he stared her down. "She's right, Shane, let her take him," Rick said, breaking their gaze.

Shane huffed before handing Daryl over to her, and she and Rick worked together to drag him to the house. He was heavier than she gave him credit for, but she sucked it up and kept going. She wouldn't leave his side.

As they walked, Rylie couldn't help but feel guilty, like she was at fault for what happened to him. If she had just insisted on going out with him today then maybe he wouldn't be in such bad condition. She could have had his back, and now he was bleeding out from a few places. _He's the toughest son of a bitch you know. He'll be fine…_

Once they reached the house, Hershel started barking out orders. Rick and Rylie took him to one of the spare bedrooms further in the house since Carl was still an occupant in the front room. As they started to seat him on the bed, he finally started to come to.

"I need his shirt off to look at that side wound," Hershel instructed as he and Patricia got a needle and thread and other medical supplies ready. The fact that he didn't sound panicked helped ease some of the tension off of Rylie.

Rick helped hold Daryl up while Rylie carefully stripped him of his ruined wife beater. He winced slightly and she looked at him with sad eyes. "Sorry," she muttered. He was now fully coherent and Shane waltzed in with a map as Rick helped Daryl lay on his good side. Glancing up, she saw Andrea standing in the doorway, and figured she could step out of the room for a moment to give them some space.

As she walked into the hall, she stopped Andrea before she could walk away. "Hey, Andrea, um… Look, I'm -"

"Don't," Andrea started. At first, Rylie thought she was going to tell her to fuck off, but she had a slight smile on her face. "You don't need to say anything."

Rylie shook her head, ringing her hands together. "No, I do. You've been a friend to me since I first showed up, and what I pulled out there was unacceptable… no matter how pissed I am. So, uhm, I'm sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Well, you pack a hell of a punch, that's for damn sure," she joked, rubbing her jaw.

Rylie chuckled. "Yeah, well you _did_ shoot Daryl, which is still just as unacceptable."

"Trust me, I feel horrible…" She glanced to the closed door where Daryl was getting stitched up, guilt etched on her face. Turning her attention back to Rylie, she smiled. "But really, don't worry about it. I probably would have reacted the same way. You were just protecting your own," she said, before heading down the hallway.

_My own?_ She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but didn't have time to think about it since Lori chose that moment to walk up to her. "How's he doin'?" Lori asked.

Before Rylie could answer, the door opened and Shane and Rick walked out, both surprised to see Lori. Rick turned his attention to Rylie, who was trying to peek around the men to see through the doorway. "He'll be alright. Hershel's just finishing up," he said with a smile. She breathed out a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she had been holding in. "I'm sure you could go in and wait."

She nodded at them before pushing past them and into the room. She turned to see Daryl sitting up as Hershel bandaged the side of his head. She again noticed the scars on his bare back, but paid more attention to them this time. They were all along his back – angry pink and silver marks. Some were bigger than others, and as she walked around the side of the bed she noticed there were some on his chest as well. She had a sinking feeling that they weren't from some hunting accident gone wrong, and it made her heart break. Something must have happened to him at some point to make him so harsh, something horrible. Her hand rested on her left hip, subconsciously rubbing at the raised flesh underneath her tank top.

"You need to rest and not move around, else those stitches won't hold," Hershel instructed. Rylie lowered herself into the chair next to the bed to wait, noticing that he looked a hell of a lot better. They must have cleaned him up some until he could properly bathe himself.

"I'm fine," Daryl muttered. He tried to prove it by sitting up more in the bed before wincing and slumping back down. Rylie pursed her lips as she tried not to smile affectionately. He wasn't used to being still.

"No, you're not. You will be in a few days, though, if you don't push it," Hershel scolded, heading towards the door. He looked over to Rylie with a questioning look.

She smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," she said, winking at him before smirking at a very disgruntled Daryl. Hershel nodded before exiting, leaving the two in an awkward silence.

She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees as she stared at him. "You aint gotta stay here," he grumbled.

"I know," she replied simply. They sat for a while and Rylie started to feel nervous. She knew what she wanted to say, but she didn't know how he would respond. He was so jaded all the time; it was hard to guess how he might react. All she wanted was to help somehow… show him that he doesn't need to do everything alone… that he wasn't alone. But she was getting a head of herself.

She started to chew on her lip, like she tended to do when she thought, and Daryl knew she had something on her mind. He didn't like that she was hovering, it made him feel awkward. He stared at her, waiting for her to say something as her eyes darted around the room. His brows knit in frustration when she remained silent. _Why is she even in here? Thought she was pissed at me…_ "You gonna spit it out or what?" he barked, enjoying the way her eyes flew to his uneasily.

"You scared the hell outta me," she blurted before she could stop herself. Rylie cast her gaze down to her ring as she fiddled with it. She wasn't able to look into those piercing blue eyes after that, afraid of what she would see. He didn't respond and the temptation to look up was so strong, but she was resilient. "It's just… when you got shot and fell… I thought you were – I mean it looked -" She sighed, aggravated at her lack of words. _What __**is**__ it about this man that makes me like this?_ Running her hands through her hair, she steeled up the courage to look up at him. "I'm sorry I wasn't out there with you today. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help," she finally said.

Surprise flitted across his face for a moment before he quickly re-masked it with confusion. "The hell you sorry for? I told you I didn't want you going out with me," he said gruffly. He wasn't used to apologies, especially from someone who seemed so sincere about it.

"I know, but if I had just insisted, or at least gone out anyway in a different grid, I could have helped," she said guiltily. She looked at his bandaged side and jerked her chin at it. "What happened, anyway?"

He pulled the sheet up to cover his torso, suddenly feeling very exposed – something Rylie didn't miss. "Fuckin' horse bucked me off and I fell into the ravine. One of my bolts went straight through me," he explained. "Had t' rip it out to kill a couple of walkers."

"Damn." She couldn't help it, and hoped it would make him smile. "Who was stupid and reckless now?" she joked, smiling over the top of her knees. He narrowed his eyes at her and let out a grunt, but there was a very small smirk playing at his lips.

He cleared his throat and shifted slightly on the bed. "It ain't your fault, got it?" he asked. She stared at him a moment, confused by his persistence, before nodding once. She still blamed herself, but she figured she would shut up about it for the moment. "You gonna leave or what?" he asked irritated. "Don't the women need help cookin' or somethin'?"

"Ha! I was never much of a cook." She smirked at him and dramatically stretched out in the chair. "'Sides, someone has to make sure you don't do anything else stupid. I promised Hershel."

He rolled his eyes. "'s not like I shot myself," he muttered. His eyes then shot to Rylie, playful and curious. "Speakin' of, heard you clocked Andrea a good one," he stated, waiting to gauge her reaction.

A blush flushed her cheeks as she looked away, suddenly feeling foolish. She felt like some crazy overprotective girlfriend who had no right to do what she had done. "Well… she shot you. That's not really okay with me," she replied. She looked up and saw his smirk and glared at him. "Don't give me that look. I would'a done it if she shot anyone. She's just trigger happy and she needs to chill out."

"Comin' from the woman who hid her gun in her tent," he remarked.

She glared at him, feeling her face warm yet again. _How'd he know?_ "It's my gun. I'm not giving it up."

He just shrugged and they fell into an uncomfortable silence. She wanted to ask him about Sophia's doll, but figured he wouldn't want to retell what happened since he just went over it all with Rick and Shane. She worried at her bottom lip as she thought, and hadn't realized she was playing with her ring again.

Daryl watched her out of the corner of his eye. He had never realized it until now, but that ring was the only piece of jewelry she wore. She didn't seem like the type of girl who worried about possessions like that, and he found himself wondering what the story was behind it. If the stupid girl insisted on playing watch dog, then he preferred some sort of conversation over the uncomfortable silence that had fallen on them – which was rare for him. He was about to ask about the silver band when there was a knock at the door.

Without waiting for an answer, the door cracked open and Daryl saw Maggie standing there with a smile on her face and a wad of clothes in her hands. Rylie sat up straight in the chair at seeing the girl.

"How you feelin'? Dad wanted me to check on you, see if you wanted any painkillers?" she asked, leaning on the frame.

"'m fine," Daryl grunted in response. He didn't like all these women worrying about him like a bunch of mother hens. It made him feel restless.

Maggie nodded, as if she expected that answer, and stepped into the room to set the clothes on the dresser. She looked at Rylie and jerked her head towards the hall. "I figured you might want to wash up before dinner."

Rylie caught the look in her friend's eye and knew she wanted to talk to her out in the hall. "Um, yeah, okay." She stood and looked at Daryl before she left. "Try not to do anything stupid while I'm gone," she teased.

When the girls were alone in the hallway Maggie stuffed her hands into her pockets. "I took your bag to your tent before I grabbed some clothes for you. Figured you could sort through everyone's stuff once you're done babysittin'."

Rylie smirked at her and rolled her eyes. "Shut up, I just feel bad."

"Sure, sure. And it has nothin' to do with wantin' to spend more time with him." She smiled as Rylie laughed. "Your whiskey is safe, as well as your other garments. I bet I'll use mine before you do," she added with a wink. Rylie blushed as she playfully shoved past her. "Towels are in the cabinet by the sink!"

Rylie locked the door behind her – an old habit after living in a house full of little siblings growing up – and looked at the shower like it was god. It had been forever since she had had a proper shower, and she decided to stop thinking about it and hop in. She made quick work of her clothes and figured out the knobs quickly before she hopped in. The second the water hit her skin, she groaned in appreciation. The pressure was shit and it the water wasn't as hot as she would have liked it, but it was the closest she was going to come to heaven and she wasn't complaining. She took longer than she probably should have, but figured it wasn't a crime to indulge herself this once. She let the water beat away at her tense muscles, let the soap wash off all the caked up dirt, blood and sweat, and let all of her worries momentarily drain away into the claw-foot tub.

When she was finished, she grudgingly turned the water off and dried her body. She wrapped the towel around her and brushed out her hair with a brush she found in one of the cabinets. Rylie went to put her clean clothes on before realizing Maggie had left them in Daryl's room. "Shit," she muttered. _I'm gonna fuckin' kill her, she probably did that on purpose._ She debated putting her dirty clothes on, but really didn't want to ruin what the shower had just done for her. After worrying about what to do, she finally huffed out an annoyed breath. She would just have to go get her clothes with the towel wrapped around her and be quick about it. "'s just a fucking towel, I'm sure he's seen women in less than that before," she grumbled to herself, not really fond of that train of thought. Shaking her head, she double checked to make sure the towel was secure around her before she cracked the bathroom door open to look around.

She didn't see anyone around and figured everyone in the house must be in the kitchen, where there was a bunch of female chatter and clinking of plates. For a moment, Rylie felt as if she were in a normal household. She almost forgot about the world outside of the comfortable farm house.

Deciding it was safe to make a quick escape to his room, she made a beeline for his door which had been left cracked open with her dirty clothes in her hands. She opened it and expected to either be completely ignored or yelled at for her state, but found that Daryl had fallen asleep. _Oh, thank you Jesus._ With a hand holding the top of the towel, she quickly grabbed her clothes as quietly as possible and went to head back to the bathroom, just in time to see Lori walk in and shut the door. "Shit," she hissed again.

Biting her lip, she looked over her shoulder at Daryl's sleeping form. She could wait until Lori was done in the bathroom, but Daryl could wake up any second to see her standing in his room in nothing but a towel. She wasn't sure she would ever be able to live that embarrassment down. Deciding if she just changed here quickly, no one would be the wiser. Not wasting anytime, she closed his door quietly and moved to the back of the room as far away from Daryl as she could, and turned her back to him. Moving quickly but silently, she dropped her towel and pulled her panties and shorts on. In her haste to grab her shirt – which she had set back on the dresser – she banged her hand on the corner.

Daryl had fallen into a light and dreamless sleep, but was suddenly brought to attention by the sound of a quiet bang and hissed curse. Confused at the sound, he opened his eyes and was surprised at what he saw in front of him. Rylie stood with her back to him in nothing but a pair of shorts. Her hair was wet and clung to her lean back muscles as she moved to quickly slip her bra on. He stared, transfixed, at the way her muscles moved beneath her skin and couldn't help but imagine the way they might look moving beneath him. Shocked at where his thoughts were headed, he looked away and after she had her shirt on, cleared his throat.

Rylie gasped and whirled around, a hand pressed to her heart, as she watched Daryl shift on the bed slightly. He looked as if he had just woken up and she really hoped he hadn't seen anything. When he didn't say anything and just nodded at her, she chose to believe he hadn't and moved to sit on her chair where she folded her old clothes until she could wash them.

They sat like that, both of them not wanting to break the silence, and just took turns staring at random objects in the room. Before she knew it, the sun had set and she could hear everyone gathered in the house for dinner. She had decided she would eat later, so Daryl wasn't left alone. He never asked her if she was leaving, so she figured he must have caught on that she wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't entirely sure if she was staying by his side to ease her guilty conscious, or for some other reason.

Suddenly, the door opened and Carol walked in, holding a tray with two plates of food. She smiled at Rylie before setting the tray down next to the bed. "Brought you both some food," she offered.

Rylie returned her smile and noticed that Daryl tried to cover himself with the blankets even more. "Thanks, Carol, you didn't have to do that," she replied grateful.

Carol nodded before looking down at the wounded man. "How do you feel?"

"About as good as I look," he grumbled. Rylie averted her gaze from the two as she got the feeling Carol needed to say something to him privately, but was too polite to ask her to leave. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Carol hesitantly leaned down to kiss Daryl on the top of the head, making him flinch. A flash of jealousy coursed through her at this until she heard what Carol had to say next.

"'s where I got stitches," he complained.

"You need to know something," she said quietly. "You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy did in his entire life." Rylie's heart softened at these words. She had always wondered what had happened to Carol's husband.

Daryl seemed to grow embarrassed and shifted on the bed. "I didn' do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done," he defended, not liking the attention.

_I don't know about that,_ she thought, thinking of Shane.

"I know. You're every bit as good as them," Carol said, a small smile on her lips. "Maybe better."

And with that, the mother left the room. Daryl glanced at Rylie, who gave him an agreeing smile. She fully believed what Carol had just said, and was glad to know she wasn't alone in thinking so. She just hoped Daryl believed it, too.

"She's right, you know," she said softly.

"Yeah, whatever," he mumbled, before turning to his food. Rylie stared at him and felt something stir inside her as she realized she wanted him understand how much he meant to the group. But she decided that was a topic for another time, and stood to get her food as well. She didn't want to think about just how much he was beginning to mean to her as well.

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	12. Queen of England

**Put a lot in this one, so I hope it's not too much or slow in any part. As always, I would love to hear what you all have to say as it motivates and inspires me! JeanneFate-x, sarabear91, halodoll89 – thank you all again for your feedback! I hope that I continue to write up to your expectations! **

**Read on, my loves!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie and Jamie!**

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_"They're bad news, Jamie," she said, nervously looking around._

_He sighed and dropped the rabbit he was skinning. "Ry, you're too paranoid. They keep us safe, they give us food. We don't have anything to be afraid of," he explained as if talking to a child. _

_She glared at her only friend left. "Easy for you to say. You don't have a pair of tits." Her look turned pleading. "Jamie, please. Something isn't right. They give me the creeps…"_

_"You're overreacting," he said, now clearly annoyed. "Go get some more firewood so we can cook this game. It'll take your mind off of this."_

_"But Jamie -"_

_"Rylie, just go," he snapped. She looked at him like he had just slapped her before turning on her heel and stormed away from the group. __**Fuckin' prick. I'm terrified of this group and he doesn't even give a shit…**__ The reason she was terrified? They were constantly leering at her, looking at her like she was a piece of meat. She was one of the few women among the group, and she was sure it had been a long time since any of the men had seen any action. She shivered at the thought._

_She was collecting firewood a good distance away from the camp. Rylie could still see the fires blazing through the trees, but kept a wary ear out for any sounds of trouble. As if on cue, a twig snapped to her left. She spun around ready to slay any walkers that dare come at her, but was surprised to see one of the men from the group. __**What's his name? Billy?**_

_"Oh, hey, you startled me," she said, chuckling nervously._

_He smirked at her in response. "Sorry, little lady." She gave him a tight smile before turning back to her task. He was one of the ones who creeped her out the most, always staring at her. "Shouldn't be out her by yourself. 's dangerous for a little thing like you."_

_She patted the machete at her hip, bending over to retrieve a large log. "I can watch out for myself," she replied._

_Suddenly he was behind her, sliding his hands over her waist. "You sure about that, darlin'?"_

_She tensed before she pulled out of his grasp, dropping the firewood with a harsh glare trained on the man in front of her. "The fuck do you think you're doing?" _

_With every step he took towards her she took a step back. "Don't go playin' stupid now, little lady. You know you want this," he sneered, a sick grin plastered on his face._

_She blanched at his meaning, and continued to back away. "You better back the hell up Billy, or I'll scream so loud walkers will be on us in a second," she threatened._

_He tisked at her. "Now now, we don't want that, now do we?" _

_Her back came in contact with a tree and she knew she was cornered. "I'd rather be eaten alive by those things than be touched by piece of shit scum like you," she countered, venom in her voice. The next thing she knew, the back of his hand collided with her face and sent her falling to the ground._

_"You've got quite the mouth on you, darlin'," he started, advancing on her. She looked up at him with a hand pressed to her throbbing cheek just in time to see him descend on her. "We'll have to work on that."_

_In desperation, she jerked her knee up and made contact with his gut before she tried to scramble away. A hand caught her ankle and dragged her back before she was flipped onto her back and pinned. "Little bitch. Time to teach you a lesson," he hissed._

_"Get off of me!" she screamed, struggling to get free. His hand clamped over her mouth as his knees forced her legs apart. Panic was flooding her senses and tears began to pool in her eyes. She would die before she let this happen, she just had to get away... His free hand began to slowly drag her shirt up, but stopped at her ribcage. _

_"Let's see if you're so full of energy after this," he mocked. She heard the metallic slide of a blade leaving its sheath and jerked her body around as much as she could, trying to loosen his hold. She was screaming under his hand, but it only came out as muffled sobs. _

_Suddenly, there was a piercing burning sensation that started at her hip and seemed to consume her entire body._

Rylie woke with a gasp, a cold sweat covering her whole body. She looked around at her surroundings quickly, eyes darting around the room before they settled on Daryl's sleeping figure under the sheets. Her pulse was racing and she found herself panting. Closing her eyes, she ordered herself to take a few deep and calming breaths. It was just a dream, a memory really, and one she had hoped would be gone from her forever.

She leaned forward and rest her head in her hands, trying to shake off the effects the dream had on her. It was something she had put in her past and had moved on from, but seeing Daryl's scars must have triggered it in her mind somehow. There was a ghost pain pulsing on her hip and she traced her fingers over the pink scar that was there, trying to ease away the uncomfortable feeling.

He made a sound as he shifted in his sleep, drawing her attention to him. She looked at his face and couldn't help but smile at how peaceful he looked. The harsh and distant hunter looked so calm and almost innocent in slumber, and it warmed her heart to see that even he could escape from the horrors of the new world for a time.

The sun had just started to rise and Rylie figured most of the group was probably still sleeping. As she went to get up from the chair, she winced at how tight her body had become while sleeping in a small wooden chair. The kink in her neck was most prominent, and she tried to rub it out as she made her way to the restroom. Once she was refreshed and washed up, she returned to Daryl's room and moved the chair by the window.

The window was cracked open and she was leaning on the sill to get some fresh air. It really was a beautiful place they had stumbled upon here. The birds were up and singing their songs to greet the morning, the breeze was waking the trees, and the sun was kissing the crops with its light. It amazed her that beyond the army of trees surrounding them was a world consumed by death. Not for the first time she wondered what exactly had happened. How was it that something so powerful and deadly just happened upon the entire world? How did the governments not see this coming?

She thought of her dad, and the others like him, who had tried to be as prepared as they could be. He used to tell her that you shouldn't rule out any scenario; that **anything** was possible and the only way to survive was to be ready. Rylie sighed and sat back in the chair. She was feeling sorry for herself again for everything she had lost, and she needed to stop. _There's no point dwelling on the past. All you can do now is look to the future and live in the present._

With that thought, she looked over at Daryl. This group she was with now, they were her family. Sure, she had just met them, but in this new world no one really had time for formalities. Either you clicked or you didn't. Plain and simple. And there were no words to describe how thankful she was to have clicked with them all so well, especially the man in front of her – whether he wanted to admit it or not. It wasn't hard to miss how he always tried to distance himself from everyone, even though she could see he really just wanted to belong. Something was always holding him back. But she felt as though she had seen more to him than most of the group had – that he **let** her see more. That was something to think about…

"The hell you starin' at me for?" came a gruff voice, snapping her out of her thoughts. She hadn't realized she had been staring or that he had woken up, and her cheeks tinted pink at being caught.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking back out the window. "Sleep well?"

"'Bout as good as I can bein' all stitched up." He hissed sharply then and she was up and by his side in a second to see what was wrong. He apparently had forgotten about his bandaged head and scratched at the wounded side, messing up the dressing in doing so.

She clucked her tongue at him and swatted his hand away as he fumbled to fix it. "You're gonna mess it up even more," she scolded. She was sitting on the left side of the bed so she had to reach over him to adjust the bandage.

Daryl stilled at her actions and tried not to think about how good she smelled – like soap, something female, and something earthy. That coupled with the way her low cut shirt dipped just a little too low was doing something to his head and southern region. He averted his eyes from her chest to avoid any more images like the one from yesterday, only to have his eyes land on her face. Her brows were furrowed and she was biting her damn lip again as she fiddled with his wound. Her fingers were soft against his temple as she made delicate work of fixing him up. It was getting harder and harder to not be pulled towards her…

Once she seemed to have secured the bandage the way Hershel had done the day before, a small satisfied smile played at her lips. Her eyes darted down to his and her stomach clenched at the way he was watching her. His bright blue eyes were fierce on her and they reminded her of the day at the pond. She surprised them both by lightly trailing her hand that had been at the side of his head down to his cheek. "That should do it," she said softly.

Maybe it was where her thoughts had gone this morning, maybe it was his strangely intoxicating smell, or maybe it was just bound to happen. Whatever the reason, it happened. Before she could stop herself, she was closing the distance between them and gently touching her lips to his. Her breath was caught in her throat and her heart was fluttering in her chest. This was **much** different than their kiss at the pond; this kiss was tender, sweet almost. His lips may have been rough, but they were warm and molded against hers perfectly. She felt as if she could melt into the kiss forever – however cheesy and childish that may have been.

What was it about this woman that made him ache for more? He wasn't a man that got attached to people, especially women. But he found himself kissing Rylie back. He clenched his fists at his sides, though, to prevent himself from doing anything more – like grabbing her and never letting go. She was so soft and tasted so sweet. It was like she knew how to reach a place inside of him no one else ever had… and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

All too soon there was a knock at the door and Rylie jerked back, scooting down towards the edge of the bed just before Hershel walked in. She placed a forced smile on her face as she tried to look as if she hadn't just been sensually kissing his patient. Daryl just had to wear his natural scowl and he would look fine – of which he was doing a fantastic job.

"I'm surprised to see you're both awake," Hershel greeted.

Rylie shrugged. "Early risers, I guess." Hershel nodded before turning his attention to Daryl. "Dumbass here messed up his head dressing so I did the best I could to fix it," she informed him, enjoying the glare Daryl shot at her.

He again nodded and continued to inspect Daryl's wounds. "Everything looks like it held alright over night; no bleeding or signs of infection. You should be alright to head back to your own tent in a few hours once I've redressed the bandages and you've eaten something, if you'd like," he said to Daryl, who looked more than relieved at this news. He didn't like to be cooped up in a house and be treated like an invalid.

Rylie tried to make her escape, to think about what had just happened and clear her head. "I'll go see if the women need any help with the chores," she stated, rising. She glanced at Daryl, avoiding eye contact. "Will you be alright?"

"Yea," he responded awkwardly. She nodded before leaving the room.

_What the __**fuck **__was that?!_ she scolded herself. The pond scene was one thing; that had just been pent up lust. That was acceptable. This? This kiss actually had feeling, and it was something that unnerved her. _Let's think about this logically for a second_, she tried, leaving the house. Of course she has **some** feelings for him, as she had been thinking about earlier. But that didn't mean she had to go kissing the man like that! Her heart had seemed to tighten… she hadn't known he could be so gentle…

"Mornin', Rylie!" Carol called from the laundry line, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, hey, Carol," she greeted walking over. She started picking up some of the wet clothes from the basket and hanging them up.

"How's Daryl this morning?" the woman questioned.

Rylie had to stop herself from cringing before she answered. "He's doin' good. Hershel said he could go to his own tent in a few hours as long as he promised to take it easy."

Carol chuckled. "Daryl? Take it easy?" She looked over at the brunette and winked. Rylie smiled before hanging a shirt. "Well I'm sure you'll have to fight to keep him down. But if anyone can do it, it's you."

She poked her head around the shirt, brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Carol paused to look at her in an almost motherly way. "Rylie, you're the only one in this entire group that can meet him at his level. You give him attitude, so he'll listen." She shook out some boxers and Rylie caught herself wondering if they were Daryl's. "Plus," she added. "He likes you."

Rylie scoffed. "Yeah, and I'm the queen of England," she laughed bitterly, shrugging off Carol's observation.

Carol watched as Rylie shook her head to herself and smiled affectionately. She wondered how long it would take the two of them to come together…

The two women finished hanging laundry in a comfortable silence as the rest of the camp woke up around them. They didn't talk about Daryl again, but he wouldn't leave Rylie's mind. She kept thinking of their kiss this morning, of what Carol had said, about the way her heart had dropped at the sight of seeing him shot… There was too much for her to think of on her own and it was starting to give her a headache. She went to head to her tent, to possibly lay down for a bit and zone out, when she saw Glenn and Maggie near the edge of the camp. Smiling, she thought that maybe talking to Maggie was the perfect thing to help. _Another woman to help sort out these thoughts is just what I need. If the look on her face is any indicator, it looks like these two are having some troubles of their own in Lover's Lane._

They were whispering fiercely to each other and Rylie was beginning to wonder if she should talk to Maggie at another time. Just as she was about to head back to her tent - as the pair hadn't spotted her yet - something stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Will you please tell me why your dad has a secret barn of walkers?" came Glenn's voice. "It's creepy."

Immediately Rylie pressed up against a tree so they wouldn't see that she had just overheard them. _The barn is full of fucking __**walkers**__?! _She felt sick at this knowledge, and she gripped the bark of the tree to stabilize her.

"Shhh!" Maggie hissed. "Just trust me on this, okay?"

"But I **suck** at lying! I can't even play poker; it's too much like lying."

"You have to keep this to yourself, you have to! Please…" And with that, Maggie walked off.

Rylie knew she couldn't hide from this and she pivoted around the tree to stare at Glenn. He looked over at the movement and had a look of dismay on his face.

"Glenn, you wanna tell me what the hell is happening?" she asked, a hand placed on her still churning stomach, a stern look set on her face.

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**Thanks for reading, darlings! Please express your thoughts, I would love to hear what you all have to say! Hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Watch Your Back

**Sorry it took so long for this chapter, y'all – I was too busy meeting the one and only Norman Reedus! XD Yes, it was amazing, and yes I love him (as I know most of you do too), and yes, it did inspire future ideas! So hopefully those start to play out soon! 3**

**JeanneFate-x, Dora701, LionHeartSid, and AllMonstersRHuman – Thank you guys for your kind words! As always, I live for your feedback! You guys are so great! =]**

**Everyone who has favorite, followed, and even clicked on my story, thank you all for your support as well! I hope I continue to please you all. Well, that's enough chat. Read on, my dears!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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"We **have** to tell somebody!" Rylie hissed. Glenn had just finished telling her about the barn full of walkers that he had stumbled upon the previous night – after Rylie had pried the information out of the kid.

"Rylie we can't! Maggie would kill me!" he said nervously.

"And if we don't tell somebody, those walkers could kill us!" She was fuming. How could Maggie keep such a dangerous secret from them all? "**Why** do they have a barn full of walkers, exactly?"

Glenn shrugged, looking exhausted. "I don't know, she won't talk to me about it." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Look, I'll figure it out, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, at least right now," he pleaded.

"Glenn…" She went to argue and protest further, but the look in his eye stopped her. "Fine, but I swear to God, Glenn, get this shit figured out quick!"

She turned on her heel and stalked back to her tent. She nearly tripped over the bag Maggie had dropped off, completely forgetting about it. "Son of a bitch," she hissed, kicking it to the side of her tent. She was pissed that Maggie had neglected to say anything to her before, she was pissed that she had sworn not to say anything, she was pissed that she had feelings for Daryl and he would never have them for her. She knelt down on her sleeping bag and started going through her things.

Rylie knew the perfect and most productive thing to do – go out looking for Sophia. Since Daryl was out of commission, and everyone else would be going through gun training, she was the only one left. With that in mind, she grabbed her gun after checking to make sure no one was around her tent. Ejecting the clip, she confirmed that it was loaded before sliding it back into place. She shoved in into the back of her waist band, pulling her shirt over it to conceal it. Yeah she had a holster, but she didn't want anyone to know she was carrying. Next she moved to her machete and strapped up, figuring if she was going to be out there alone, the more weapons the better. She slid one of her pocket knives into her side pocket before quickly throwing her hair up into a high pony tail.

The sound of movement caught her attention and she perked up, confused. Poking her head out of her tent, she saw the tail end of Daryl before he ducked into his own living space. _Stubborn bastard_, she thought hotly as she flipped the tent flap back before hurrying over to him. She entered his tent just as he was lying down and getting comfortable on his cot. _At least he isn't gettin' ready to go out hunting to something else stupid_, she thought.

"I was going to come back and help you," she stated, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at him.

He glared at her, clearly pissed she was in his tent without his okay. "I got an arrow through my side. I didn't break my damn legs," he replied.

She knelt down but continued to glare at him. "You still need to take it easy, Daryl, or you're just going to make everything worse."

"What's it to you?" he questioned, fiddling with one of his bolts.

Rylie rolled her eyes. "Don't pull that shit with me," she snapped. Daryl knew damn well that she cared, he had to! She had stayed in his room all night, had fixed him up this morning, and then… He had to know, right? She herself wasn't exactly clear on how deep that care went, but she wasn't stupid enough to pretend it wasn't there at all. With everything that had happened between them in the time they'd been together, she was slightly surprised that Daryl **was** stupid enough to deny something was brewing between them. She sighed once Daryl looked away from her and began to poke holes in his tent. "Look, just please take it easy today. I'm going out to look for Sophia while everyone else is at gun practice, so you don't need to worry about her," she informed him, hoping it would help ease his mind.

At her words, he snapped his head to look at her with a fierce look in his eyes. "You ain't goin' out alone," he ordered.

Her brows knit together. Where the hell had that come from? "I'll be fine," she assured, confused by his outburst. Was he concerned? "I survived on my own for a long time before I met you guys, I think I can handle a few hours."

The concern she thought she had seen flash in his eyes was suddenly gone and replaced with a look of indifference. "Whatever."

There was a slight pang in her chest, but she brushed it off. "You said you found her doll by the creek? It probably floated down from somewhere a bit north, right?" she asked, trying to figure out where she should be looking.

"Yeah," he agreed, once again picking at the mesh in his tent.

Realizing she wasn't going to get anything else out of him, she slapped her hands on her knees before pushing up. "Alright then, see you later I guess," she said, turning to leave.

"Jus' be careful," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. Her heart skipped and her lips twitched with a smile before she masked it, seeing Andrea making her way over with a book in hand. The women smiled politely at each other with a nod before continuing on their way.

Rylie approached the truck where Rick, Shane, and Jimmy were all pouring over the grid map, just in time to hear them confirm what she had been thinking. "So what, you think she went north?" Shane asked.

They looked to Jimmy. "Yeah. What's up that way?" Rick asked him.

"A housing development; went in maybe ten years ago," he answered.

Rick looked back to Shane. "You can go check that out after gun practice, I'll hold down the fort here. But take back up. After what happened to Daryl yesterday I don't want anyone goin' out alone, we stay in pairs," he said firmly.

Rylie winced, knowing she was about to have a battle on her hands. "Well actually," she started, shimming in next to Jimmy, "I was hopin' to go out and pick up where Daryl left off yesterday."

"No," Rick said immediately, shaking his head. "The last thing we need is for someone else to get shot, or get hurt bad enough where they can't make it back to camp. You can go with Shane after practice," he said, as if that solved everything.

_Like hell I will,_ she thought, casting a glare at Shane. He was returning the look, but the darkness she had seen in his eyes the other night had returned. "Look, Rick, before a few days ago, I was out there on my own and doin' a damn good job bein' the walker slayin' bad ass I am," she teased, hoping to lighten him up a little. Her look turned serious as she met his eyes, though. "I'll be fine. Besides, I'm going to pass on gun practice. Going out there to look for her will give me something to do. I'm not as good as Daryl, but I can track well enough."

"I don't like you goin' out there alone, and I don't think Daryl would either," he said. Frustration crossed her features as he continued. "What if something happens?"

"Then something happens," she shrugged. "And last I checked, Daryl wasn't my fucking guardian. I don't need his or your permission, Rick. But I would prefer to have it. I'll be fine on my own for a few hours; check the woods and creek while Shane checks that development out. Covering more ground makes sense, Rick, you said so the other day," she argued.

Rick hadn't meant to upset her, and saw he shouldn't have made the comment about Daryl. Clearly there was something going on there, but realized now it was a touchy topic. He sighed as he shook his head, seeing she had a point. She'd been out on her own for God knows how long and she wasn't any worse for wear.

"Fine," he relented. "But you get back here before sundown, and watch your back."

She smiled triumphantly as Glenn walked up with the basket of fruit Maggie had bribed him with.

"Who do you suggest I take as a partner?" Shane asked Rick, grabbed a peach from Glenn.

"See how everyone does on the range and take your pick," he said, smiling. Everyone took a peach, Glenn avoiding Rylie's gaze the whole time, before he turned his attention to Rick. The men had gone back to looking at the map before they realized Glenn was still staring. Once he had their attention, he turned to look pointedly at Lori, before looking away. _Good lord, that boy knows another damn secret_, she seethed. Why did everything have to be so damn complicated?

"Binoculars?" Shane demanded, looking at Glenn like he was crazy. Moving quickly, he handed the object over to Shane before picking the basket back up and muttering a 'bye' under his breath. Rylie wondered if she should try to get whatever else Glenn was hiding out of him, then deciding against it, when Beth and Patricia walked up to them. The women started talking to Rick about going to gun practice while Rylie poured over the map. If she was going out there, she needed to understand the lay of the land.

Once she felt like she had a good understanding, she saw that Rick, Lori, Shane, and Dale were all gathered around Carl. _More drama? Think I'll head the other way_. She went back to her tent as she heard raised voices over whether Carl should be allowed to shoot or not. Once in her tent, she grabbed a bottle of water and an old granola bar. After scarfing down the food, she stepped out of her tent and headed towards the woods. Before she got more than ten feet, she was intercepted.

"You sure you should be going out alone?"

"I'm fine," she growled at Shane, trying to step around him.

His hand shot out and gripped her wrist tightly. "How about you hand your gun over," he suggested, squeezing harder. "You know we were asked not to carry, and since you're not goin' out to practice, I'm not so sure it's a good idea you keep yours on you."

_How does everybody seem to know about my gun?! _She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Get your goddamn hands off of me," she seethed, yanking her wrist out of his grasp. "It's my gun, so I'm only going to tell you once to never try to take it away from me again." She turned to leave before facing him again. "And if you **ever** touch me again, I'll cut your fucking hands off."

Rylie stalked off before he had a chance to say anything else. Shane felt his eye twitch as she watched her go, livid that she thought she could talk to him that way. Rubbing his hand over his shaved head in an old habit, he turned to head back to the convoy, but stopped short when he saw Daryl standing outside of his tent. "You need to leash your bitch," Shane spat at the redneck.

Daryl's fist clenched at his side and he took a step after Shane's retreating form, only to feel the tight tug at his side, making him wince. Knowing the ex-cop could take him in his weakened state, he decided not to go after him… now. He had heard Rylie's raised and alarmed voice and immediately went to see what the problem was; the strange urge to protect her strong. When he saw Shane grab her wrist, Daryl had seen red and was ready to go at it then. But he had watched in amazement as Rylie had stuck up for herself, a challenging look in her eye. Not many people would cross Shane like that, and he felt a stab of pride for the girl.

Rylie channeled her anger to the task at hand, and honed her senses in to her surroundings. After creeping through walker infested woods for a while, you learn how to move almost soundlessly. She made her way through the trees, heading for the creek. _Son of a bitch thinks he can manhandle me like that? I don't fuckin' think so…_ No man touched her unless she allowed it.

Before she knew it, she was at the ridge. She followed it north for a while, looking for any sings that someone had been there. Soon she came across a lot of disturbance in the foliage. Crouching down, she studied closer before standing back up to look around. More branches and twigs had been broken closer to the ledge and as she approached, she saw blood streaked down the rock surface. At the bottom of the creek bed she saw two unmoving bodies littered on the ground. _Must be where Daryl fell…_ She shuddered at what he must have gone through and how it must have royally sucked to be out here alone…

Moving on, her thoughts drifted back to the night before and what Carol had said to Daryl. Rylie knew he would never believe that he was just as good as their two acting leaders, but he was. She highly doubted either of them would have done what Daryl had the day before and she wished she could do something to make him believe it. He spent whatever time he could looking for this little girl, brought a flower back to her mother just to cheer her up, had taken an arrow in the side just to bring back evidence - how could anyone in the camp **not** see how much he was doing? Not to mention he hunted for the group, which was pretty important.

On that thought, she stopped to look around. Maybe she should start helping with that. Sure her method was slower than Daryl's, but what the hell? She crouched down and got to work, stringing twigs together with vines she ripped off of trees. As she was working on her snare, her hands stilled as she noticed a track in the bushes next to her. Immediately she dropped what she was doing and rushed over to it.

Definitely something human… or walker. Slowly and quietly, she started following the trail, drawing her machete out. The tracks were small and narrow, probably a young woman or girl. Her heart leapt to her throat as she sent a silent prayer up hoping it was Sophia. Carol and Rick had described what the little girl looked like, and now Rylie kept an open eye out for a blonde head. In the next instant, her stomach dropped as she realized the track was erratic and seemed to fumble a lot. The prayer she just thought instantly changed to hoping it wasn't Sophia - but she had to continue, she had to be sure.

"Sophia?" she called out softly, keeping a sharp eye out. She followed the trail around a tree and came up short, stumbling back a few steps with a gasp. There stood a little girl, just as she guessed, but thankfully it wasn't Sophia. Long red hair flowed in a tangled mass over her shoulders and she would have been a beautiful little thing, had it not been for missing ear and dangling rotted flesh hanging off the side of her face.

Rylie could do nothing but stare as her heart broke violently. She had been lucky enough in her ventures to not come across any walker children, and now she was staring one in the face. Tears prickled her eyes as she looked beyond the blood and cloudy eyes, which were now hungrily trained on her, and saw a sad and lost little girl. She was just a child! The walker was moaning as it stumbled towards her, and Rylie couldn't stop the image of her younger sister from running through her mind's eye.

She continued to walk backwards and felt a few tears slide down her cheeks. _Don't think about her! This isn't Anna, this isn't Anna, this isn't Anna…_ The sensible side of Rylie – the one she had relied on for so long now – knew that she had to put this sweet child out of her misery, but it was hard to grasp onto that fact. _She's not a human anymore, Rylie,_ she thought, recalling her own words to Maggie just the day before. Squeezing her eyes shut, she took a deep breath and blocked out the sound of walker teeth snapping together at the close meal. She had to hold it together; she had to eliminate the threat. She could be emotional later.

Her eyes snapped open and she raised her machete to deal the final blow, when suddenly her hair was yanked back. She yelped out in pain and surprise as she stumbled back into a decaying corpse that was hungrily waiting for her.

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**Cliffhanger! Please review and let me know what you think! Your words are treasure to me!**

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**Thanks, loves!**


	14. Hope

**I am so sorry this chapter is out so late! I just got a new job and it's been a bit hectic around here. I also apologize for the length of this chapter, but it was fitting to end it where I did. The next chapter shouldn't be too far along, and it will have way more Daryl time, so bear with my, my loves!**

**JeanneFate-x, Dora701, katie93319, Castiel Angel Heart, and Guest – Thank you all so much for your reviews! You all really have no idea how much your opinions matter! =]**

**To my followers and favoriters – Thank you for your patience and support! I hope you all continue to enjoy my story!**

**Read on my dears, and again I am sorry this one is a tad short! Disclaimer: I only own Rylie.**

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They say your life flashes before your eyes before you die; they say it's almost like a slideshow of all of your memories. But that's not how it was for Rylie. For Rylie, everything seemed to freeze – maybe it was sheer terror, maybe it was pure instinct. Whatever it was, her body snapped into motion and the need to live coursed through her. All of her senses were suddenly sharpened. She could feel the warm breath on her neck, smell the sickly scent of death, and hear the chilling sound of teeth snapping together.

Taking her machete, she plunged it backward and into the gut of the walker before it could sink its teeth into her shoulder, using the leverage to push it away from her. The little girl walker was now only feet away from her and advancing quick, and Rylie kicked out and sent the girl flying back. She spun quickly to wretch her blade out of the walker, but it was stuck. Using both hands she tried to yank it out again, to no avail. "Shit!" she hissed. The walker who had grabbed her was a large man with a huge chunk of skin torn from its neck and shoulder and its front side was covered in blood. It was advancing quickly and Rylie scanned the area to see the little girl was recovering quickly as well. Still some distance away she noticed two more walkers approaching, drawn by the sound of fighting.

Rylie whipped her pocket knife out and decided to take out the biggest threat first. Letting out a war cry, she charged at the large walker in front of her, using her strength to knock it down to the ground and embed her knife into its skull. Once again, when she went to yank it out, it was stuck."Son of a bitch!" she cursed, realizing this walker had been dead for a very long time. She heard the little girl approaching behind her and quickly went to stand and pivot towards the advancing threat. As she spun, however, her right foot got caught in some foliage and rock on the forest floor and twisted her ankle at a painful angle. Pain lanced up her leg and she let out a strangled yelp as she fell to her knees beside the dead corpse.

As the tears sprung to her eyes automatically, she looked up and knew what she had to do. Reaching back into her waist band she fell into a familiar rhythm of point, aim, shoot. Flipping the safety off, she stared down the barrel of her gun into the face of the hungry little girl. Without another thought, she sent a bullet through her head, and shot down the two remaining walkers – who had gotten way too close while she had been busy with the big guy. When all of the walkers were dispatched, she remained alert, scanning the woods around her, panting. She knew she had to move, that the gun shots – which she wished she could have avoided – would attract a hell of a lot more attention. When she was sure that she was safe for the moment, she dropped to the ground and let the adrenaline pump through her.

She was shaking, she realized, and tried to take a few calming breaths to steady her heart and hands. That had been way too close for comfort, and she cursed herself mentally for getting caught in such a situation. The little girl had taken her by such surprise that she had let her guard down and had almost been a meal! Looking down at her injured ankle, she saw it was already starting to swell and turn purple. Poking around at it, she winced as pain throbbed through her foot, but decided it wasn't broken. She could probably hobble on it, which was better than nothing. She would just have to be careful about how much weight she put on it until she could get back to Hershel.

_Shit,_ she thought with a grimace. She would never hear the end of this from either Rick or Daryl. And they certainly would never let her go out alone again. With an aggravated and pained sigh, she turned her attention to the geek who had sucked in her blades. She'd be damned if she was going to leave them, and moved to her knees once again to try harder at getting her weapons back now that she wasn't under pressure. After one good yank, her machete came free from its stomach, covered in dark poisoned blood. After wiping it on the forest floor she tucked it back into its holder before turning to focus on the smaller knife stuck in the skull.

This one was stuck all the way to the hilt, and it wouldn't budge. "Give… it… back… fucker…," she grunted angrily in between yanks. Finally, it relented, and slid out with a sickly sucking sound, spurting her front side with blood. "Motherfucker," she groaned. After cleaning the blade and tucking it back into her pocket, she grabbed her gun and crawled over to the closest tree. Using the trunk, she pulled herself up, making sure to keep her weight fully on her left leg. Gingerly, she tested her ankle's strength, and hissed in pain as soon as she put too much on it.

_Alright, Ry, you've got two options… Either head back now, or suck it up and look around more._ She debated with herself for awhile, before deciding to stick it out for a while longer. Finding Sophia was the priority, and she had always had shit ankles. Her injury could wait. She tried to move quickly, continuing north, always keeping an eye out for more walkers. At one point, she came across a large branch that had fallen from a tree, and began to use that as a walking stick to help with the pain in her ankle.

Even though she was injured and out looking for a lost little girl, there was a part of her that reveled in being out in the woods alone yet again. She had been on her own for such a long time it had almost started to seem normal. And while she was eternally grateful to the group, and by no means wanted to leave them, this time by herself was calming in a way. She took in the smells around her, kept her eyes open and trained on the sounds of the forest, and enjoyed the cooling shade the trees provided. These Georgian woods had become a sort of odd home.

As she hobbled along, she kept close to the creek, using it as a guide. She soon realized that she had been walking for quite some time without any sign of any activity. The sun would be setting soon, and just as she was about to head back, a flash of color caught her eye. Squinting, she couldn't make out what it was so she limped over. There on a thorny bush was a small piece of baby blue fabric, looking to be torn off a shirt. Rylie ripped it off the branch and looked around frantically. "Sophia!" she called out. As her eyes darted around, she thought she saw an opening ahead through some trees.

Limping over as quickly as she could, stumbling a few times, she came upon an opening with a small little home nestled there. It looked so perfect and untouched, but she knew better than to believe that. "Sophia! Sweetie?" she called out again, slowly approaching the house. She drew her gun out, knowing with her ankle she wouldn't be able to be as quick with her machete as she usually was. Rylie shuffled up the wooden porch steps and was glad to see that the front door was shut, but not locked.

Leaving her walking stick on the porch, she eased the door open slowly and winced when it creaked. As quickly as she could, she checked each room, always on her guard with her gun at the ready. Everything in the house was eerily quiet and pictures of a lovely old couple were scattered on the walls, making everything extra creepy. "Sophia?" she hissed out quietly. Rylie understood that the fabric she found could have been ripped off any walker out in the woods, but if it had been Sophia's it would only make sense that she had been here, wouldn't it? She was trying to remain hopeful, needed to remain hopeful after everything that had happened already this morning.

As she made her way up the stairs to the second floor, she started to get a sinking feeling in her gut she wasn't going to like what she was going to find. Each step creaked under her weight, a dead giveaway to her presence if there were any walkers in the house, and each step sent her heart racing. What if she **did** find Sophia, but she was bitten? How was she supposed to deal with that?

Finally at the top of the stairs, she saw there were three doors, two of which were open – leaving the door at the end of the hallway closed. The first was a small bathroom that was no worse for wear and across the hall from that was a small bedroom. The small twin bed was made perfectly as if suspended in time - the whole home made her think this way. Everything was untouched; frames in place on the shelf, clothes hanging in the closet, and a vase full of dry wilted flowers.

Moving on, she made her way to the end of the hall and braced herself for what was on the other side of the door. Holding her breath, she flung the door open and stopped short, her breath whooshing out of her in a sob. There lying perfectly on the bed side by side was the elderly couple she had seen pictures of on the first floor with gaping gun shots in their skulls. Blood was spattered horrifically on the white pillows where their heads rested. The man had a shotgun strewn across his lap and his right hand hung limply off the side of the bed, his left clutching his wife's right hand. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the horrible scene in front of her, even as the tears burned her eyes, until the smell slammed into her, causing her to pivot out of the room and empty the contents of her stomach in the hall.

Sophia wasn't here; just this sad couple who had opted to go out together in their own home. It was such a sad sight that she let the sobs wrack her body as she leaned against the hallway wall and slide down. The little girl this morning, her near death experience, the pain in her ankle, this new scene that was now burned into her memory forever, and not finding Sophia – she let it all consume her and allowed herself to mourn. It was all too much for her to bury like she normally would have and she told herself it was okay to let it out and get it out of her system.

Not for the first time, she wondered what there was left to hope for in this new world as the tears streamed freely down her cheeks.

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**Thank you again for your patience, my dears! And again, your reviews help encourage me greatly! I'm always eager to hear what you have to say!**


	15. Apologies! - NOTICE

**All That They Know - UPDATE!**

My beloved darling readers,

I am so sorry, but right now I am not in a position where I can update frequently. Like, at all. This new job is taking up way more of my time than initially expected, and whenever I am not writing all I can think about is sleep! I am trying to write whenever I possibly can because I know every bit counts. I am so sorry for the MASSIVE delay in posting, and I hope you all can forgive me and bear with me just a little longer. I love you all so incredibly much and your support means more to me than words can possibly express! Thank you so much for your patience and I hope I'm not disappointing any of you!

Updates will come soon, I promise! Thank you all once again!

With waves of love, gratitude, and apologies,

BellaBloodrayne


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